Topband: Why no NA 160m Activity?

[Paul Kiesel]

I listen for CW and FT8. My receive antenna is an unterminated BOG
which does a barely acceptable job for what it is. I often hear South
American, Pacific and Asian stations on CW, but rarely hear Europe.
I know my receive antenna is not up to the job, but there is not much
I can do about it because of my circumstances. I often hear big gun
W and VE stations working Europe like it's easy, but I hear European
stations very rarely... almost never. It's not that I don't try hearing. 
There is no point in calling CQ EU if you can't hear EU stations.
There are other guys around here who experience the same thing.
We alert each other when there is an enhancement in propagation. In
our case, the auroral zone gets in the way.

73, Paul K7CW
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 10/17/18,  <daraymond at iowatelecom.net> wrote:

 Subject: Re: Topband: Why no NA 160m Activity?
 To: "Roger Kennedy" <roger at wessexproductions.co.uk>, topband at contesting.com
 Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 10:35 AM
 
 Nothing against FT8  or FT8
 enthusiasts, but FT8 activity has certainly 
 siphoned off a lot of activity on CW, as many
 of us have predicted and 
 feared.  Anyone
 doubting this just needs to tune the lower portion of the
 
 band then tune up the band and listen for a
 moment.  I, for one, will be 
 continuing my
 activity on CW as I personally enjoy the audible and
 visceral 
 connection with the person I'm
 QSOing.        73. . . . Dave, W0FLS
 
 -----Original Message----- 
 From: Roger Kennedy
 Sent:
 Wednesday, October 17, 2018 12:07 PM
 To: topband at contesting.com
 Subject: Topband: Why no NA 160m Activity?
 
 
 I know you
 guys in North America have a lot of Lightning & Static
 problems
 in the summer . . . but surely
 that's all gone now?
 
 If
 so, why is there so little activity on CW from NA on Top
 Band?
 
 Every night
 there's usually a load of us Europeans on from your
 Sunset time,
 calling CQ DX.
 
 The band is clearly open, from
 the RBN signal reports . . . but I'll often
 come on for at least an hour, and lucky if I
 have 3 or 4 QSOs !  And even
 then, it tends
 to be none of the big signals.
 
 What makes it even more frustrating is that
 there's usually LOADS of people
 posting
 FT8 contacts on the 160m DX Cluster . . . but very few
 proper CW
 Stations !
 
 Roger G3YRO
 
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