Topband: Working 'long' distances on 160m

[Jim Brown]

Excellent post, Grant, key points of which were driven home to me by O(T 
Topbander NI6T not long after I moved to NorCal from Chicago.

It's not the miles, it's the path.

73, Jim K9YC

On 9/25/2022 7:25 AM, Grant Saviers wrote:
> My perspective as originally a "1" in Boston and now residing near 
> Seattle, is the nickname "suffering sevens" is well applied to my 
> friends here in the Pacific Northwest.
> 
> Simply, for the PNW, distance isn't that meaningful - it's path that 
> matters (and latitude).  What was easy in Boston at 42N is very hard in 
> Seattle at 48N re EU on both 80 and 160.  The path is mostly over land 
> or ice and usually thru or around the edge of the aurora zone.  Arrival 
> angles for 80 peak at less than 10*.  OTOH, JA's- yawn.  Almost exactly 
> the same 4790 miles either way, Seattle to Tokyo or London.
> 
> So when you hear a "suffering seven" in EU, reach out.  We also get a 
> chuckle when "the band is open" messages get posted from EU and what we 
> hear is only noise.
> 
> I did get TB DXCC, all from PNW since 2018, so am not complaining. Just 
> want some more ;) .
> 
> Grant KZ1W