Topband: C21MM

[Don Kirk]

Hi Mike,

Interesting read and thanks for sending it my way.  This is a great example
on why you need to keep an open mind as there are almost infinite sources
of RFI.

We are starting our drive back to Indy today and will get home tomorrow
evening.

Don wd8dsb

On Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 5:01 AM Michael Tope <W4EF at dellroy.com> wrote:

> C21MM has been in solid for well over 1.5 hours on FT8 tonight and it's
> still early. They were loud enough at times (at least on my end) for a
> CW QSO, but they didn't decode my signal on FT8 until their signal
> peaked up to R=0, whereas on this end I was decoding solidly down to
> R=-20. Clearly they have some receive challenges. The DHDL antenna that
> C21MM plans to use for receive has been employed by AA7JV on some of his
> expeditions, so it's got a proven track record. Perhaps there is a storm
> that is very close to them causing unusually high QRN.
>
> I need to go to bed, today is a work day 🙁
>
> 73, Mike W4EF.................
>
> On 10/20/2024 6:13 PM, Wes Stewart via Topband wrote:
> >   The realities about some of these DXpedtions is that they are
> organized by Europeans and favor working EU. Take the just concluded (if
> they kept to schedule) PX0FF expedition.  The ops were all Europeans and
> >60% of their Qs were with EU and only 21% were with NA.  They didn't even
> operate 160 CW.  They made 1046 FT8 QSOs on 160 out of >150,000 total.
> >
> > 8R7X was another one with EU 54% and NA 31%.  Of course propagation
> favored EU, but they were active long enough that I worked them on both 160
> CW and FT8 as well as 22 other band/modes.
> > Ditto A8OK that I worked on 33 band/modes, none on topband.  EU 64%, NA
> 19%.
> > I'm not trying to disparage our EU friends, I'm just pointing out the
> numbers.
> >
> > C21MM will be QRV for at least another week.  So far they haven't made
> any topband CW contacts and only 6 with NA presumably on FT8.  They claim
> to have installed an RX antenna, but have high noise.  So we shall see, but
> I'm not holding my breath.  To their credit they have worked about the same
> number of CW and FT8 Qs and a few on RTTY, three of them mine.
> >
> > AA7JV is a dedicated 160 man, who will put in the hours needed.  These
> other guys are not so motivated and want to run up their Q count by working
> the most productive bands, or by turning on the FT8 robots.
> > Wes  N7WS
> >
> >
> >      On Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 12:11:54 PM MST, Jim Brown <
> jim at audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:
> >
> >   On 10/20/2024 11:14 AM, Steve Harrison wrote:
> >> If possible, please spend some time attempting to work some North
> >> American stations on *160 and/or 80m **CW*. A few minutes here and there
> >> is NOT enough; HOURS on the low bands are needed in order to catch the
> >> propagation peaks all across the NA and SA continents.
> > YES! Veteran expeditioner AA7JV recognized that topband openings tended
> > to happen on one or two nights of a multi-week activation, and developed
> > networks to allow simultaneous operation on CW and FT8 during every hour
> > there's a possibility of propagation. One of the most glaring failures
> > is abandoning the band at the first hint of daylight, when propagation
> > PEAKS over the next 45 minutes to an hour!
> >
> > 73, Jim K9YC
> >
> >
> >
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