Topband: EU condx report, Pre-Stew and 7P8 at VE6WZ

[VE6WZ_Steve]

What a difference a few nights make.  Last night I logged 45 EU, and could have worked more had I not watched a TV show with the xyl.
Some extremely strong EU signals into VE6 last night, and the 7P8 pileup was lit-up with EU callers.
I was very happy to work 7P8RU last night on TB, since I was shut-out from both S9OK and 3DA0.

During the Pre-Stew the trans-polar EU path was very muted and I only worked 13 EU, and 2 JA.  I’m pretty sure I could have worked 60 or more if we had the prop like last night.
In fact last year I placed #1 in the Pre-Stew, but I worked 70 EU, 13 JA and a few OC.  I’m pretty sure that will be the first and only time I ever win a global DX contest.
But in order to be competitive with the east coast, we need both a good trans-polar EU opening and a good Asia-OC run to get those points.

So far this season since Aug 1, I have had 225 EU CW QSOs on 160m, with 71 unique callsigns. For the same 3 month period last year, I worked 412 EU with 155 unique callsigns, so perhaps conditions are down a bit this year?
However, I have been able to work into EU almost every night since late August…usually OK1CF or DL8LAS.   It seems this season there have been few “strong” openings.
Here is the VE6WZ 160m EU CW list so far this season.  This is the “who's-who” of the most active on 160m CW ranking:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RiodAQYiuzDshoA-7i-_Ck7j0EJ8QtVb/view?usp=sharing

Personal musings on 160m propagation and activity:

There are those who like to contest
There are those who like to add to the DXCC total
There are those who like to call CQ and work any DX, anytime…...

My observation is that this season the band has been very unstable.
With the exception of VERY few nights, the QSB has been fast and deep with signals peaking for 20-30 seconds and then gone below the noise for minutes at a time.
Checking RBN spots for only a few minutes will likely make you conclude the band is dead.  I am CQ on 160m almost every night, sometimes for an hour or more at time.
Without calling CQ I would probably have worked only a small fraction of the 225 QSOs this season.
OK1CF, DL8LAS, OZ7YY and LY7M are almost always QRV and calling CQ.  Even when not at the radio, I can check the Flex waterfall and see what 160m CW traces are showing up, and dash to the radio.

As Roger G3YRO has noted a “few” times, sometimes there is limited NA activity on 160m CW.  The fact is, I used to call CQ a lot on 40m and 80m, but I don't do that much anymore.
Those bands now seem a bit mundane and less exciting so I’m not inclined to be active there.
That is probably the case with many of the NA ops on 160m, especially on the EC where EU is very common and easy to work, and watching a good TV show is more interesting than working the “same old guys” every night!
Unless it’s a new DXCC, it seems most ops, (even in EU based on listening to all the strong EU callsigns in the 7P8 pileup last night) have little interest in “plain-old” DXing.
Its common to hear guys say “oh, yeh I heard him on last night, but I don't need him”.  And for sure there is a very large number of ops that are only waiting for the next contest.  Nightly DXing is not a normal activity.

It’s a big hobby and there is room for us all.

For some reason I still find it exciting to hear those weak EU signals just bubbling up above the noise.  Any DX on TB is DX even if I've worked him 50 times.
If you like CW and working DX on 160m, get on the band and start calling CQ if you can.  Just because the band seems “dead” you might be surprised how many calls you get when the DX gets your QSB peak.
The Joe Taylor mode benefits a LOT from this effect because there are so many guys calling “CQ”…..every 15 seconds for hours!  There is simply a better chance of catching that QSB peak.

There is a lot of DX to work on 160m CW (well maybe not “new ones”), and remember that the old saying really is a true fact:
“If no one calls CQ, then no one will be working any one”

73, de steve ve6wz