I listen for CW and FT8. My receive antenna is an unterminated BOG which does a barely acceptable job for what it is. I often hear South American, Pacific and Asian stations on CW, but rarely hear Europe. I know my receive antenna is not up to the job, but there is not much I can do about it because of my circumstances. I often hear big gun W and VE stations working Europe like it's easy, but I hear European stations very rarely... almost never. It's not that I don't try hearing. There is no point in calling CQ EU if you can't hear EU stations. There are other guys around here who experience the same thing. We alert each other when there is an enhancement in propagation. In our case, the auroral zone gets in the way.
73, Paul K7CW -------------------------------------------- On Wed, 10/17/18, <daraym...@iowatelecom.net> wrote: Subject: Re: Topband: Why no NA 160m Activity? To: "Roger Kennedy" <ro...@wessexproductions.co.uk>, topband@contesting.com Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 10:35 AM Nothing against FT8 or FT8 enthusiasts, but FT8 activity has certainly siphoned off a lot of activity on CW, as many of us have predicted and feared. Anyone doubting this just needs to tune the lower portion of the band then tune up the band and listen for a moment. I, for one, will be continuing my activity on CW as I personally enjoy the audible and visceral connection with the person I'm QSOing. 73. . . . Dave, W0FLS -----Original Message----- From: Roger Kennedy Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 12:07 PM To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: Why no NA 160m Activity? I know you guys in North America have a lot of Lightning & Static problems in the summer . . . but surely that's all gone now? If so, why is there so little activity on CW from NA on Top Band? Every night there's usually a load of us Europeans on from your Sunset time, calling CQ DX. The band is clearly open, from the RBN signal reports . . . but I'll often come on for at least an hour, and lucky if I have 3 or 4 QSOs ! And even then, it tends to be none of the big signals. What makes it even more frustrating is that there's usually LOADS of people posting FT8 contacts on the 160m DX Cluster . . . but very few proper CW Stations ! Roger G3YRO _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband