Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[k1zm at aol.com]

HI Gary
Zone 2 is rare over in JA for a number of reasons.  These are:
1) The first is that there are only a handful of licensed/active amateurs in ZONE 2
2) Of those that are on the air - very few of them have even as much as a 64 ft tower
3) Of the remaining number - there is very little serious interest in 160m - most of the amateurs there prefer to operate on the higher frequency bands
4) One of the best guys in ZONE 2 is NAZ VO2NS in Labrador City, Labrador - and he has a good station - but he is a bit too far North and East for good propagation to JA.  I am not saying it never happens but it is RARE.
5) Even a really talented DX'er and 160m afficionado - my friend FRANK DAVIS VO1HP has only managed to work JA from near St Johns Newfoundland - and that was after some 2 years of winter skeds with Kaz JA8ISU.  Frank has tried for several years to to work Robert DU7ET - and they have (to my knowledge) not yet made a 160m qso.
So it is JUST DAMNED HARD to work from VO1/VO2 and Zone 2 into Japan.and Asia. 
Miriam and I are pretty sure that we know what we are doing on Topband - I have 340/340 160m DXCC on CW, well over 150 DXCC on 160M SSB (including ST0 and VP8SSI) and have managed to make DXCC HONOR ROLL via signal band 160m only - something which only 3 amateurs in the world have achieved and I was NUMBER 2 in doing so.
But even with this amount of experience - over the course of 6 straight nights on the air from ZONE with a decent antenna system - with a single purpose of trying to work our JA friends who need the zone - we were only able to manage 6 qso's - and these had to be made on FT8 because we could not hear the JA's on CW mode (we tried repeatedly with JA8ISU - and if you cannot hear/work KAZ on Topband from Northern Hokkaido - well you cannot hear one of the most savvy and best equipped 160m amateurs in all of JAPAN.)  Kaz is a super op, dedicated to the band, and has a rock crushing signal here at VY2ZM - from late September to  mid March - first on the short path starting at 0730Z and he is again workable from 2020z in November via the long path - until his SR occurs.
If it is not clear yet to anyone reading this post - whether you may or may not think much of FT8 - it is clearly superior to CW for weak signal work on Topband and less sensitive to "noise" to boot.  Just listen on 1840 or watch DX SUMMIT for a few days and you will see this kind of stuff there - with little or NO DX on CW mode: at the same time:
9K25T5VP8TA2UA9UA0JA's (tons of them!)T6
Get the picture?  While it may sadden me as a dyed in the wool CW DX'er on Topband to see this happen, it is very clear to me where we are going here.  I still enjoy all the CW contests on 160m which bring the CW band to life once again - meaning ARRL 160m/CQ 160m/The STEW,/ARRL DX CW/CQWPX CW etc  Apart from those weekends though, it is SLOW SLOW SLOW down in the CW segment of Topband today.
As I noted to VE5RA - the world has changed.  Basically, it is fast becoming time to "GO WITH THE FLOW" or get out of the way.
Thanks for your question Gary - it was a good one.
73 JEFF  K1ZM/VY2ZM

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
















-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Smith <Gary at ka1j.com>
To: Topband <Topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Nov 11, 2019 5:08 am
Subject: Re: Topband: A Bit of Zone 2 History Was Made Last Week

I probably should know, but what makes 
Zone 2 such a rarity for JA & the others? 
The few operators from 2? Propagation 
issues?

73,

Gary
KA1J


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