Topband: Good conditions, Little Activity

[K9FD]

I lived in BY back in 1999 and 2000 and put BY1QH on 160 even before 
that time,
Problem is not the stations or antennas,  its the noise,  hardly any BY 
live in the
country, they are mostly all stuck in town and the noise is something 
you have
never heard the likes of.
I operated weeks on end and the noise never got below S9.  most times 
was even
higher.
I cant imagine what it is now 20 years later with  all the new 
appliances.  Yea and these
are the appliances and junk that we complain about a neighbor using, 
made in China,
multiply that by thousands and you get the idea.  Plus a electric grid 
that has so much
coal soot on it that it arcs all the time.

I have it easier here in KH6 being closer,  I hear many BY on the band, 
both CW and FT8
and even with 1500 watts and being closer its difficult to work some of 
them,  if your
signal is not over S9 your out of luck.
Most Asian stations are in the same noise boat,  I have operated from a 
number of places
in Asia and its mostly the same,  S9 noise.
US is not far behind on becoming noise limited,  there are charts that 
show noise increase
over the years,  not a good outlook.

73 Merv K9FD  Molokai Island Hawaii



  If we could just teach the BY stations CW and station construction 
practices for 160m we would be in good shape!
>
> The good news is the end of cycle 25 is sounding a lot like it's 
> predecessor. I'm definitely looking forward  to the winter months. 
> Anything is better than nothing.
>
> Bob, W7RH
>
>
>