Topband: SP Contest

[Steve Harrison]

On 3/9/2025 2:36 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> ......... My experience on Topband is that all the east coast seems
> interested in is EU. Many are listening with arrays focused on EU, and
> those with transmitting arrays transmitting in that direction.
I would normally agree, except that last night, I heard only a few
easterners (including ZF9CW, who was super-loud more than an hour before
my sunset; and PJ2T) working or even calling Europe. I got the
impression, based on the fact the faster ops were almost exclusively 
responding to midwest or other easterners rather than any Europeans,
that everybody was actually listening more west than usual simply
because that's where their responses were from. It was really
interesting to hear K1KI almost any time last night; he never seemed to
be "just listening for Europe" during nearly the whole test, and he's
normally weak and just above the noise but last night, he was almost
always S5 to 20-over right until his sunrise. I wish I could have been
watching the cluster and ON4KST web site for a better idea of European
conditions; but that's agin the rules  8-)
> ......... increased noise levels from electronic power-handling, like
> SMPS power supplies  and chargers, variable-speed motor controllers,
> and solar systems.
Fortunately, out here in the desert, I only have solar system noise to
contend with; and my own solar noise goes away once the sun sets and it
shuts off.
> The states I'm missing are SC and VT. And the big gun VT Topbanders
> have always been deaf to the west -- they're hard to work legal limit
> with a 100 ft Tee vertical!

There have been plenty of both those states in the ARRL 160m test the
past several years. My problem has been getting LoTW confirmations from
the US; not many US stations seem to use LoTW, and I've been delinquent
on mailing real QSLs/SASEs in efforts to get paper confirms. (But in
truth, I've just not seriously attempted to tabulate my 160m WAS as yet.)

Steve, K0XP