Topband: Promoting CW Activity.

[Steve Harrison]

Geprge, we worked on 160 the other night but you seem to keep getting
louder and louder; so maybe I'll call again some time when traffic is
zilch  8-) However, last night, the QSB had very deep nulls, down to ESP
level then back up a minute or two later to S9. I didn't notice such
deep QSB the first night; it was there but not nearly as deep. Hard to
give an overall qualitative "antenna-worthiness" report under those
conditions 8-D For me, the QSB did not correlate with the times you and
the East coasters were hearing/working; some easily worked you when I
couldn't hear you, some seemed to have a hard time hearing when you came
back and were S7-S9.

The more I listened, the more it struck me that the QSB seemed to be
following the infamous bell-shaped statistical curve; that is, most the
time you were at least S5, almost always between S3 and S7, with the
occasional dip to nothingness and other rare peaks to S9. I listened for
FK8IK when he was supposed to be CQing after working you but only had
ESP on him, if anything. (I wonder whether Bob, W7RH, could have copied
him then??) I don't think he stuck around long enough to give the band
much chance to peak on him very often. His QRQ also hurts often when
he's so weak to begin with. I could hear around a third of the JAs that
you worked but none got very loud, S3 at best for me.

Another thing I'd like to see you check out is how your shortie antennas
work when the radials are entirely on land; i.e., not "grounded" in the
ocean. I'm wondering how much degradation there would be if, say,
another DXpedition (such as CY0S or CY9C) were using your verticals but
they had to be located on a hill or mountain hundreds of yards from a
beach with the excellent salt water ground.

Having said all that, I'll admit I've kept checking 80m for you when I
didn't hear you on 160 (aren't you using 3527.5??) but so far, zilch;
yer having too much fun on top band, I gess. (Is that a possibility:
having TOO MUCH fun on top band??)  8-)

Steve, K0XP



On 9/30/2024 12:34 PM, GEORGE WALLNER wrote:
> Richard,
> Thanks for the report, which is much appreciated. I am testing a new
> antenna. Extra "bird friendly" only 38 feet tall. Seems to get out.
>
> TKS and 73,
> George
>
> On Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:23:20 -0500 Richard Thorne  wrote:
>> George,
>>
>> Thanks for the qso on 160 this morning.
>>
>> We worked twice.  I called the 2nd time as you were very loud, 599+.
>> Conditions were very quiet on the 1/4 wave sloping vertical.  My receive
>> array is not on line and there was no need for it.
>>
>> Rich - N5ZC
>>
>> On 9/30/2024 2:20 PM, GEORGE WALLNER wrote:
>>
>>> TopBand is certainly open.From E51D I worked EA8 last night shortly
>>> after my SS. Later, fromabout 10:00 Z most NA signals were S6 to S7,
>>> including East Coaststations. Felt more like 80 m, but slower.
>>> Still, worked around 80stations in 2 hours. It was a good night for TB.
>>> George,AA7JV
>>> On Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:12:46 +0100 "Roger Kennedy"  wrote:
>>>> There is an email circulating around Top Band DXers, asking us to try
>>>> and
>>>> encourage more CW activity . . . so I said I would post on here (as
>>>> this is
>>>> something I have always tried to do).
>>>>
>>>> The problem is that if nobody comes on the band and puts out a call,
>>>> many
>>>> people presume that there is no Propagation. This is made worse if
>>>> all you
>>>> do is look at the DX Cluster, or look at your Waterfall Display.
>>>>
>>>> I also know that some people only ever come on the band to work some
>>>> rare
>>>> Prefix or DX-pedition . . . but that is such a waste of a decent 160m
>>>> setup!
>>>>
>>>> However, there are many of us that get a buzz out of working ANY DX
>>>> (no
>>>> matter how often we may have worked that station before) . . . and
>>>> DX on
>>>> 160m is really anything over 3,000 miles away.
>>>>
>>>> Top Band is certainly now open for DX most nights, certainly for
>>>> those of us
>>>> in the Northern Hemisphere . . . there 's just so little activity (it
>>>> gets
>>>> boring just looking at your signal reports on RBN!)
>>>>
>>>> So come on guys . . . a lot of you put a lot of trouble into having
>>>> decent
>>>> Tx and Rx aerials for Top Band . . . what's the point in all that
>>>> effort if
>>>> you never come on the band ?!
>>>>
>>>> 73 Roger G3YRO
>>>>
>>>>
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