Re: Topband: ARRL DX Contest
Fun conditions but I had un-avoidable obligations that kept me from any sincere contest effort, I just got on to give points. Didn't take part in any pileups, just answered CQ's with nobody else calling them. As others have mentioned, Saturday was much better and I was amazed how EU was killing it over here. There were some of the strongest 160 signals in, for me, quite a few years. I only worked 160, this is the band with the most reward, for me. Kudos to the HI-Z antennas for a real help on some of the weaker stations. Just for fun I tried the sloper alone for RX and intelligibility plummeted. Used the sloper and triangular on the sub Rx, for diversity with the K3s and that was a marked improvement. The circle 8 & triangular for diversity was a real window cleaning. Now to get rid of the local RFI and it'd be even better... Details, details. Have fun & 73, Gary KA1J _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
Hi Mike, I think the lack of activity comments were about ordinary week nights. Try again Tuesday and see if there are that many QSOs available. Let us know what portion of DXCC you can get then. I don't have a working transmitter at the moment but I do listen. There actually are QSOs to be had (other than FT-8) but not nearly as many as during contests. It's the same on all bands. Maybe I could get 1 percent of DXCC on Tuesday night :) Or maybe two percent of WAS . 73, Bill KU8H On 2/18/19 9:20 AM, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote: 128 Q’s and 50 DXCC’s on TopBand this weekend with slightly less than a ½ effort (on all bands), so from my point of view, condx were good to very good. The last hour was probably the best, but with 3 or 4 spins through the band, I had worked all that I heard, so went back to 40 and 80 each time. Lack of activity? I think not ! ! Mike VE9AA….currently just an inverted L (more like an inverted U), not very high and 2 raised radials. Mike, Coreen & Corey Keswick Ridge, NB _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector -- bark less - wag more _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: ARRL DX Contest - Small Gun
Typically I deal with S7+ noise at my station and have been stuck at 90 countries for a few years now. This weekend I found the band to be a lot less noisy then usual (S3 to S5) and I was able to add three new countries. I heard two other new ones HQ and KL7, but I suppose they couldn't hear me as I was not able to get a QSO with either. I probably made over 30 DX contacts including two in Hawaii. This is very atypical for me and I was excited to see the band in such good shape. Alas, I was not able to be on at the end due to some family commitments. I'd love to be able to finish up DXCC this this year but chances of getting 7+ new ones are probably slim over the next month or so. Good stuff! TomW3TA _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: ARRL DX Contest
Well I came on 160m for a couple of hours on both Friday night and Saturday night . . . Managed to work 97 North American stations in total, so very pleased with that ! Great to hear the band open. (now if we could only get some of those stations to come on the Top Band when there ISN'T a contest . . . ) 73 Roger G3YRO _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
128 Qs and 50 DXCCs on TopBand this weekend with slightly less than a ½ effort (on all bands), so from my point of view, condx were good to very good. The last hour was probably the best, but with 3 or 4 spins through the band, I had worked all that I heard, so went back to 40 and 80 each time. Lack of activity? I think not ! ! Mike VE9AA .currently just an inverted L (more like an inverted U), not very high and 2 raised radials. Mike, Coreen & Corey Keswick Ridge, NB _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
I was one of the 160 meter ops at W3LPL this weekend. Conditions were spectacular both nights and Sunday evening! Very loud signals and plenty of activity. We managed 428 Q's with 85 countries. It was lots of fun ! > On February 17, 2019 at 6:59 PM Tim Shoppa wrote: > > > Wow, I thought the first night was FANTASTIC on 160M. But the last hour on > Sunday was CRAZY. Especially northern Europe sounded like it was in my > backyard. Scandinavian stations just booming in, rest of Europe doing great > too! > > Tim N3QE > > On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 10:50 AM W7RH wrote: > > > Greetings All, > > > > Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO > > just before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at > > Sunset was IK2CLB with no QSO. > > > > After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off > > to bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. > > > > Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are > > going to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is > > just that. Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing > > contest exchanges. IMHO > > > > 73 > > > > Bob, W7RH > > > > -- > > W7RH DM35os > > > > "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our > > humanity." - Albert Einstein > > > > _ > > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > > Reflector > > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX Contest
Group, Saturday evening conditions redeemed themselves as if they knew they were getting bad mouthed by me. Eastern Europe made it out west starting around 0400 moving west until EU sunrise 0800 when they were finally shut out. Signals were not super strong but even with low power many answered on just one or two calls. All considered it was a darned good opening here. Nothing however compared to what I heard and worked during an opening when the VP6D operation was in swing. I made a recording that evening of the EU pileup the rivaled 20 meters. Propagation path moved in a counter clockwise circle from eastern Mediterranean Ocean, the Baltic's then moving to Northern EU, Poland, Sweden followed by The British Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, Western Mediterranean and West Africa. Of note, the usual eastern EU power house stations were non-existent to my ears. Neither were central EU. The Auroral oval ring had a gaping hole in it last night allowing me to slip a signal into Western EU. :) At that point I grabbed some sleep and came back at 1200 UTC for Asia. The final 2 hours netted just three JA and Kim, HL5IVL. Alternately beaming SW and NW produced no VK or ZL. For me this particular contest is a Top Band dream. It has low levels of QRM and good activity worldwide. When the band is open this contest is very special and opportunity for many to work some new ones. Operating low power I only called CQ in the morning on the western paths with 90% of my operating time S&P. Thanks to those who responded. I expect some broken calls as my network link was experiencing some dramatic intermittent latency and jitter all evening busting my TX sending. 73 Bob, W7RH 160m the Magic Band -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
I moved to 160 the last 30 minutes and wow !!! Loud, very loud signals from EUarmchair copy on most Sent from my iPad > On Feb 17, 2019, at 6:59 PM, Tim Shoppa wrote: > > Wow, I thought the first night was FANTASTIC on 160M. But the last hour on > Sunday was CRAZY. Especially northern Europe sounded like it was in my > backyard. Scandinavian stations just booming in, rest of Europe doing great > too! > > Tim N3QE > >> On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 10:50 AM W7RH wrote: >> >> Greetings All, >> >> Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO >> just before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at >> Sunset was IK2CLB with no QSO. >> >> After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off >> to bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. >> >> Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are >> going to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is >> just that. Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing >> contest exchanges. IMHO >> >> 73 >> >> Bob, W7RH >> >> -- >> W7RH DM35os >> >> "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our >> humanity." - Albert Einstein >> >> _ >> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband >> Reflector >> > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
Wow, I thought the first night was FANTASTIC on 160M. But the last hour on Sunday was CRAZY. Especially northern Europe sounded like it was in my backyard. Scandinavian stations just booming in, rest of Europe doing great too! Tim N3QE On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 10:50 AM W7RH wrote: > Greetings All, > > Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO > just before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at > Sunset was IK2CLB with no QSO. > > After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off > to bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. > > Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are > going to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is > just that. Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing > contest exchanges. IMHO > > 73 > > Bob, W7RH > > -- > W7RH DM35os > > "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our > humanity." - Albert Einstein > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
160m contest report from VE6 under the AU oval…. I was out Friday evening so missed the start, but got to the radio by about 0400z. At first I thought things were going to be good with strong signals coming across the pole from UA and northern EU, but after an hour or so things fizzled out and the transpolar signals got much weaker with only about 15 EU/AF and numerous NA/SA making it into the log till I went to bed around 7:30z. The morning session was mediocre….the band was in good shape but little activity. Only 23 Ja, and a few other Asia together with the V84 guys. Little OC activity outside of KH6 and KH2, and no VK or ZL QSOs for me. Saturday night with the solar wind down to 370 km/s, I was hopeful for good early EU conditions but that didn't happen here. EU eventually opened up around 0400z but the path was painful all night! Many EU were heard, but only for maybe 15-30 seconds before the QSB took them away into oblivion. The QSB would eventually bring them back, but very rarely long enough to complete a QSO. I could watch on the waterfall as an EU signal would appear from nothing, peak for about 20 seconds, and then disappear without returning for several minutes. If the calls and exchanges weren't completed within the 20 second window then there was no hope for a repeat until the QSB came back. I tried calling CQ and had numerous callers, but they would peak enough to get the prefix, maybe the whole call, but then they were gone when trying to get the exchange. There were a few EU signals that somehow defied the bad QSB for some reason and remained steady most of the night, or at least stayed above the noise better. QSB is common as we all know on TB, but this was perhaps the fastest and deepest I have ever heard. Long-and-slow QSB is not bad to work with, but fast and deep with long extended dips is pretty tough! The Sunday morning session was very slow, even though the band was wide open. Some very strong (599) JA and HL, but I had already worked most of them. Very little activity from JA at my morning, calling CQ for almost 2 hours but only worked 5 AS. Perhaps I should have got up earlier. Sorry for any EU callers that I did not pull out….I could hear you calling, the band was very quiet, but the QSB was a killer. All-in-all the band was not as good here as it has been for many other nights this season. On a good evening will I usually work about 30-40 EU in a couple of hours. For all the talk about diminished CW activity on TB, my 160m log shows 912 EU/AF CW QSOs since September 1, 2018. There are 372 unique EU callsigns worked, and 112 DXCC worked on 160m. These totals include only about 60 QSOs from CQww, ARRL, or SP contests combined because I was not QRV for those. I do agree that there are less casual CW DXers today just calling CQ and working guys, but my log proves that if the condx are good, there ARE many guys still on 160m CW….we just need the conditions. Most of these TB QSOs are from calling CQ, usually for 2 or 3 hours at a time and most of the EU QSOs are from 0500-0700z when the EU guys are getting up in the morning. Much before 0400z most of EU is still sleeping (except during a contest). For the contest I used the Flex 6600, ACOM 2000a, 2 el TX array and Beverage and 9 circle rx. ARRL DX CW SOSB 160m 112 QSOs (16 usa zero point callers) 49 DXCC 32 EU/AF QSOs 28 Asia 52 NA and OC 73, de steve ve6wz. > On Feb 16, 2019, at 8:49 AM, W7RH wrote: > > Greetings All, > > Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO just > before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at Sunset was > IK2CLB with no QSO. > > After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off to > bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. > > Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are going > to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is just that. > Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing contest exchanges. > IMHO > > 73 > > Bob, W7RH > > -- > W7RH DM35os > > "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our > humanity." - Albert Einstein > > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: ARRL DX contest
Bob, I was operating 20 meters and when the band closed I checked 160. This was around 0200z. The European's were very loud. Some were S9. Worked about 20 in 10 minutes on a CQ. Lots of russia and east Europe. Band went dead after 30 minutes but came back one hour later. It was the best opening of the season for me. What a difference 400 miles can make. Larry Sent by Larry On Feb 16, 2019, at 8:49 AM, W7RH wrote: Greetings All, Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO just before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at Sunset was IK2CLB with no QSO. After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off to bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are going to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is just that. Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing contest exchanges. IMHO 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: ARRL DX contest
Greetings All, Spotty openings to Europe from the SW with one surprise contact LZ2WO just before sunset. Otherwise 1 G4, and a few EA stations. Also Q5 at Sunset was IK2CLB with no QSO. After 0300 no further EU DX worked. The band went downhill rapidly. Off to bed. In the morning only a few JA and RT0C were worked. Regarding V84SAA. Comments on the reflector were not cool. If you are going to work one in the contest then work them all as a multiplier is just that. Sorry if it's a dupe. However at my Sunrise you were doing contest exchanges. IMHO 73 Bob, W7RH -- W7RH DM35os "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." - Albert Einstein _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
