Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest

Mon Feb 19 18:49:52 EST 2018

Clive
Are these signals always audible with you? Here in Worcester there are 
nights when I can't hear them at all so I presumed they were from farther 
away than the Baltic. Tonight I can just detect the one you mentioned on 
1804.9 and by 1813.1 the signal is up to S7.
73 Roger G3TQZ

-----Original Message----- 
From: Clive GM3POI
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2018 10:50 PM
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest

I'd hazard a guess at UA1. They do start fairly close to the bottom of the 
US band (currently hearing one on a simple antenna on 1804.9 and they do go 
higher than has been mentioned 1825+. However the strength seems to tail off 
above 1818 or so. The important thing to remember is these can be loud in 
EU, often S9 here and they repeat at about every 0.82khz making the 
selection of an expedition run frequency or even a contest run qrg very 
important. If you are in the Pacific and you don’t make plans for these 
signals you may get lost in the QRM within EU.  73 Clive GM3POI

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of k1zm---  
via Topband
Sent: 19 February 2018 22:30
To: f6fya at yahoo.com; topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest

Hello Gang

I think these signals (which we call the "O O O" beacons because they send 
"DAH DAH DAH" - "DAH DAH DAH"  over and over - are some kind of navigation 
beacons in the Eastern  BALTIC.

I have heard them starting as high in the band as 1818 (or so - maybe not a 
precise starting point) - and on a really good night I can hear the weaker 
ones down to as low as 1806 and 1803. (or so).

On a really good evening this past week, I heard them (I think) as low as 
1801 - but that is a really weak one.

Curiously, they are not on the air every night - because there are often 
days at a time when they are not operational - or I would surely hear them - 
from where I am located.

They have been on as long as I can remember - they were around in 1977 as I 
recall - when we all used to hang out and rag chew on 1812 SSB - the old 
guys from the nets of those days have mostly passed away now - EI8H, GD4BEG 
etc, - but a few are still with us including AA0RS (G3SZA) and Willem PA0HIP 
who now lives in DU as I recall.

FWIW -

BTW - based on how loud the UPPER ones are from 1814-1818 over here - I 
would think they must be at least 40db  over S9 in WESTERN EU - and spaced 
every 3-4 kHz apart - they peak at about S9+5 or so here at VY2ZM,

73 jeff.

Jeff Briggs
DXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide through 
BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great Britain, & 
Amazon

---- Original Message ----
From: F6FYA via Topband <topband at contesting.com>
To: topband <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Feb 19, 2018 9:10 pm
Subject: Re: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest

‎I'm a New member of the "Topband list"I agree with Roger for the QRM at the 
bottom of the band. I don't know what they are, fishnet or beacons, but it's 
getting very hard to call CQ on this part of the band. By the way, for me in 
the central west part of France, conditions was much better friday night. 
Working with vertical ant, 21 m, and beverage. So, sorry with my  poor 
english, but a  pleasure to read differents messages from the list's 
members‎. Jean-Paul / F6FYA.Envoyé de mon smartphone BlackBerry 10 sur le 
réseau Orange depuis La Touraine, Dpt 37.  Message d'origine  De: Roger 
KennedyEnvoyé: lundi 19 février 2018 14:34À: topband at contesting.comObjet: 
Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL ContestWell on Friday night I couldn't 
hear one single American station . . . eventhough I heard a couple of 
Southern Europe stations working a few.Saturday night conditions were 
better, but signals were well down on whatthey have been for the past few 
weeks.However, in the 3 hours I spent on the band (at different times in 
thenight) I did manage to work 61 American stations . . . including a few 
inBrazil and the Caribbean.For future reference, here in Britain there are 
about 6 Navigation Beaconsbetween 1810 and 1818 kHz (they sound like the old 
Decca HiFix) . . . thesemake copying weak signals VERY difficult, so a good 
idea to avoid this partof the band !Roger G3YRO_________________Topband 
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