Topband: CQ WW 160

[Jim Brown]

On 1/26/2025 2:36 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:
> Oh I get what you're saying Jim . . .
> 
> What I really meant is that I don't want to come on 160m at 3am, just to
> work a load of Europeans (which I can work in the evening), when I have
> really come on the band to try and work some DX ! (especially when a lot of
> these stations only seem to come on 160 when there's a contest).

Activity breeds activity, and contest scoring rules drive activity. 
Contests with distance-based scoring, like the Stew Perry, are best for 
hams around the world, as opposed to those in proximity to the Atlantic 
Basin. Sadly, those around the Atlantic Basin, who have built stations 
to only work others around it, aren't interested when they can't sit 
there and call CQ in one direction for the duration so the Stew suffers 
from low activity.

As for times outside of contests -- the world has changed a lot since we 
were willing to sit in front of our radios for hours on end waiting for 
openings. There are many other interesting things to do with our time, 
and, probably equally important, noise levels around the world are MUCH 
higher than they were 20 years ago. A major reason I no longer get up 
early to work Asia is noise from a neighbor's solar system in that 
direction.
> 
> But funnily enough I actually just went on the band at 2100Z for the last
> hour of the Contest, to give European stations some points.
> 
> I called CQ, and OMG, I couldn't believe the pileup ! I managed to work 154
> stations in one hour . . . quite hard considering I use no computer
> software, so even writing down the callsigns was really hard !
WOW! That's great operating, Roger! I started out at age 16 in the late 
'50s with paper log and paper dupe sheets, was on and off the air 
(mostly off) after college, worked some contests in the '70s, still on 
paper, haven't logged a contest to paper since getting back on the air 
in 2003.

73, Jim K9YC