Topband: Lack of DX CW Activity

[David Raymond]

Bill. . . I, for one, would encourage you not to give up.  I worked my 
first 50 or 60 countries with a W9INN half sloper (shortened with a 
loading coil) fed from the 40' level of my 60' Rohn 25 tower side 
bracketed to my house (no ground radials necessary since top fed) with 
about 300 watts on an 80' x 120' suburban lot.  My very first 160m QSO 
was with KX6DC, the ham station at the military base on the Marshall 
Islands.

73 and good luck. . . Dave, W0FLS

On 1/5/2024 7:33 PM, Bill Cromwell wrote:
> 
> A note from the peanut gallery.
>
> This is topband at CONTEST.com
>
> I am on a postage stamp lot and the house & garage occupy approximately the middle one third. The frontage is not usable for antenna systems due to the underground utilities and overhead power lines. I am limited to compromise antennas for this band and those must be further compromised from published designs to fit into the space. I can be heard in Canada and the eastern United States. Most of the daily signals are for dx only. In some contests I can work a few stations on the north American continent. I can hear a lot of them but they don't hear me. I don't have an antenna for 160 at the moment and not a lot of motivation to put one up. Other bands seem more productive given these conditions. I would be satisfied with QSOs in the continental range but most are DX hounds and can't waste their time on more local rag chews. I am ready to just sign off from this list and get out of your way. Am I missing something?
>
> Happy New Year to all and...
>
> 73,
>
> Bill  KU8H
>
>> On Jan 5, 2024, at 7:04 PM, VE6WZ_Steve <ve6wz at shaw.ca> wrote:
>> George,
>>
>> Yes. I fully agree that many ops don’t understand that RBN is NOT to be relied on.
>>
>> I operate 3 RBN skimmers, each on a different RX antenna, and auto switched for the RX antennas to follow the darkness DX path.
>> 2 of these are Broadside phased Beverage pairs. My QTH is a quiet rural location.
>>
>> However, the skimmer will only detect a very SMALL FRACTION of what I can hear with my ears.
>> If I look at my CW skimmer, often I can “see” the EU DX CQing, but the skimmer will not always decode it.
>> Many times I can work lots of EU, but never get a RBN skimmer decode from EU.
>> BUT, the opposite is also true.  If I am getting EU RBN decodes, then the band is probably in very good shape.
>>
>> Either way, as George said, do NOT rely on RBN to determine if the band is open or not.
>> Just keep calling CQ.
>>
>> BTW…FT-8 will decode “deep into the noise” however, with the common very fast QSB on 160m, a big reason FT-8 seems to work better is the PC sends EVERY 15 seconds, for as long as the op lets the PC go.
>> Sometimes on CW, the QSB can be so fast, the QSO needs to be completed within 30 seconds, or the DX has faded into oblivion under the noise.
>> (That’s why we usually don’t have time on 160m CW for exchanging more than a signal report…..quickly!!)
>> That’s also why on CW we need to keep CQing into what seems like a dead band.  The difference on FT-8, is the PC does the CQing for you.  Yeah…that IS easier!
>>
>>
>> Steve, ve6wz
>>
>>
>>> Noise is up.
>>> 80 is becoming the new 160!
>>>
>>> Also, it is noise that is driving a lot of ops onto FT8.
>>>
>>> Another contributor is RBN! While RBN is great tool, most RBN RX antennas are poor on 160. Those that rely on a quick scan of RBN for 160 meter activity will incorrectly assume that the band is dead.
>>>
>>> In the past 10 years noise has gone up by something like 10 dB in many areas. What worked 10 years ago, no longer works today. We need to learn to live with it. Invest in better RX antennas and other noise reduction techniques. (Petition the FCC to increase the power limit by 10 dB :-)
>>>
>>> And keep calling CQ!
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> George,
>>>
>>> AA7JV
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