Topband: Re CQ WW 160m Contest

[Steve London]

Ron,

I'm surprised you didn't have a better USA opening. From here in New
Mexico, we had an outstanding Pacific opening on Saturday from 1215Z-1415Z.
Many JA, but also:

QSO:  1813 CW 2022-01-29 1315 N2IC          599 NM     ZM4T          599 32

QSO:  1813 CW 2022-01-29 1345 N2IC          599 NM     VK6T          599 29
QSO:  1813 CW 2022-01-29 1348 N2IC          599 NM     ZL3CW         599 32
QSO:  1813 CW 2022-01-29 1352 N2IC          599 NM     VK3TZ         599 30
Sunrise was 1410Z.

All had good signals once I switched to the SW beverage.

73,
Steve, N2IC

On Mon, Jan 31, 2022 at 5:57 AM vk3io <vk3io at iinet.net.au> wrote:

> Hi all Topband contesters.
>
> Using my 160m dipole, 100fth, which is not a great DX antenna for
> Topband, here in VK3, as far as I am concerned, this years contest was
> surprisingly good, but not great, summarized by the following:
>
> 1. No North, Central or South America heard or worked, except for three
> west coast USA and one VE7.
>
> 2. No Africa or India heard or worked (not unusual).
>
> 3. Only one KH6 heard, but not worked and no other pacific, except for
> two ZL stations.
>
> 4. Surprisingly low QRN, considering all the lightning throughout
> Australia. We have had mega lightning throughout VK in recent weeks and
> continue to do so. so I was very lucky. Not so lucky for most of VK or
> Pacific.
>
> 5. Great signals from Asia (JA & HS) on my first evening, not so good on
> my second evening. Did hear BH7 strong, but he did not hear me, which
> understandable, as not all DX stations have a low noise QTH or low noise
> RX antenna pointing to VK3 land (and even if they do, they may not use
> it, as the activity from VK is so low).
>
> 6. Great signals into Europe on my first morning (not very strong, but
> amazingly very clear copy, both ways), not so good on my second morning.
>
> As I did not have a VFO tuning knob on my Anan7000DLE (had to use my PC
> mouse), I could not easily do search and pounce. I am waiting long time
> for Controller V2 delivery. So I had to try and find a clear frequency
> to call CQ on and for Europe this was almost impossible. Thank you for
> all those who tried to keep my frequency clear and for those who called
> me and could not make qso, due to European QRM. No doubt very difficult.
>
> So on average, compared to the previous 30 years or so, it was good, not
> great, as for some years, the QRN is so high, I cannot hear anyone, or
> the prop is so bad, no qso's, except local are made.
>
> Some years the DX signals were much stronger, but the DX could not hear
> me, because their QRM or QRN was so high.
>
> Seldom are conditions good on both my evenings and both my mornings, if
> I am lucky it is one or the other, but not both.
>
> Lastly, we in Australia, can now apply for a contest call sign, like
> prefix VL3, VJ3 or VK3A (single suffix letter), so in future watch out
> for this. Maybe I will get one, but maybe not, as I am now getting too
> old to be a big time contester.
>
> I hope to meet you in CQ WW 160 SSB contest. Much more difficult and a
> challenge.
>
> Cheers, from Ron. vk3io.
>
>
>
>
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