Topband: Cndx in the ARRL 160 Test.

[W3HKK at roadrunner.com]

Looks like we have worked 32 times on all bands but 10-12m since 2008.
Ive lived at the retirement qth hr in Ohio since 2009. 3 acres but
essentially no trees. So a 52 ft mast supports the 160/80 INVL's . I
peaked out at 26 radials. when I noticed adding one more made no
difference in the swr. Need to coil them up during mowing season ( and
hang them from a small walnut tree til the next winter.) RX antenna is
a SAL30. The previous qth had a small lot but a 95 ft Buckeye tree
that was great for supporting my 160m 1/4 wave INV-L, with only three
radials.Thats when I learned I could work dx on TB! 

Yes, two years ago I set a personal best/ into EU on 160 but last year
was a bummer by comparison in both 160 CW tests. 

Did you operate in the ARRL 10m Test? I put in 14 hours cw/ssb, c.
182k points. Didnt work a C6 though.

	-----------------------------------------From: "GEORGE WALLNER" 
To: "topband at contesting.com"
Cc: 
Sent: Monday December 12 2022 1:37:35PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Cndx in the ARRL 160 Test.

	Bob, 

	Before the contest we were on 160 a number of nights. Only a few
nights were we able to work more than a handful of EU stations and
they were all much weaker than normal. Regular S7 stations, like
DL8LAS and OK1CF were barely audible. Two years ago, from the same
spot and a very similar antenna, we were able to work EU-s 45 minutes
before SS, in almost full daylight. This time, EU came in weakly
around 2100 local and than again between midnight and 1 AM.
Interestingly, noise levels were below normal. (But not during the
ARRL 160, when noise was high due to a front passing through.) 

	GL with 3Y0J! 

	73, 

	George, 

	C6AGU 

	On Sun, 11 Dec 2022 00:02:48 +0000 W3HKK at roadrunner.com wrote:  

	George, thats a big drop off in Q's from a very reliable QTH. Bn
dabbling in the 10m Contest today...216 Q's so far. Vy strong FR4 

	called a guy I was calling, so I called him for a quick Q. He was 

	59+10 on ssb. The 3B8 was more like 57. One of the three Alaskans I 

	worked was 59+20, the other 55 and 57. Lots of fun but have some new 

	power line noise to the west. Heard the gal in Saudi, but too weak to


	call through the Euros. 

	Hoping the prop isnt too unstable next month when 3Y0J reaches
Bouvet! 

	They have a terrific video on QRZ. 

	Bob 

	-----------------------------------------From: 

	topband-request at contesting.com 

	To: topband at contesting.com 

	Cc: Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2022 13:54:24 -0500 

	From: "GEORGE WALLNER" To: W3HKK at roadrunner.com,
"'topband at contesting.com'" 

	Subject: Re: Topband: 160 contest; dits and dahs; propagation 

	Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8";
format="flowed" 

	We normally make 1300 Q-s in this contest. This year, with a lot of 

	hard 

	work, only 994. Propagation had to be very selective. C6AGU was 

	consistently 

	20 - 24 dB on the W3LPL RBN, but not heard at W3HKK. At the same 

	time, EU 

	stations were causing QRM on the RX antenna, which is 10 dB down 

	towards EU. 

	Strange conditions, indeed. 

	73, 

	George, 

	C6AGU 

	On Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:12:30 +0000 W3HKK at roadrunner.com wrote: 

	>Interesting comments! 

	> 

	>I specifically listened at my SR but heard no JA's. 

	> 

	>Also typically in this contest at certain hours I get a steady 

	stream 

	>of W6, W7 replies - many surprisingly strong. This time it was less 

	>than 20. The West was fairly sparse, there were many cracks in the 

	QRM 

	>wall, and it seemed most sigs were from the NE, Mid-Atlantic 

	regions. 

	>4 Land is usually a big contributor to the log, but again this time 

	>much less so. Probably goes to show just how telescopic propagation 

	can be on TB, ie 

	>spotty. Re: DX: I looked for every DX spot and heard none from EU. 

	The 

	>Carrib was about it. No CA or SA ( other than XE.) Or Pacific other 

	>than KH6. Dits and dahs: My CQ CW Contest submission feedback 

	results get hit 

	>pretty hard by penalties, and one of the major errors is the other 

	guy 

	>logging me as SKK - so now I try to repeat it an extra time, slowing


	>way down on the H. I thought I might have a sending problem with my 

	>7610 memories, but now chalk it up to noise/qsb/haste to move on to 

	>the next guy. I do hear and appreciate when the other guy slows down


	>his call. Really helps me get it right by minimizing guesses. Worked


	KH6 around 11:30 pm local time here..a bit of a surprise, and 

	>then later saw a spot for KL7 but he was buried in the noise and 

	never 

	>got him in the log. Usually hear them well around my midnight and 

	>sometimes before my SR. Nothing else heard from the Pacific or JA, 

	>even though I had worked JA two mornings before. 

	> 

	>Bob 

	> 

	> ----------------------------------------- 

	>*************************************** 

	End of Topband Digest, Vol 240, Issue 10 

	**************************************** 

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