I too came on for a couple of hours on 160m during the CQ WW . . .
Top Band wasn't at all noisy here in Europe, although conditions weren't nearly as good as during the week - most signals were about 15dB down. I worked everyone I could hear (about 20 NA stations, and a couple of Caribbeans) . . . but as Dave G3NKC posted, the problem is that there are dozens of very strong Europeans on the band (some S9 +40dB with me!), so picking out the weak DX signals in-between can be hard work, even with good filters ! (especially as they weren't as strong as normal) That's the problem with Top Band, even compared to 80m, there's no Skip, so you hear everyone on the band ! (on 80m even other Gs can sometimes be quite weak . . . but that never happens on 160m) Actually I heard several other NA stations . . . including K1WHS . . . but they were calling EU stations, so I couldn't call them. If they had called CQ I'm sure I could have worked them. (I didn't want to put out a CQ call myself, as I would have had hundreds of EU stations calling me! Do you think you can call CQ DX during a Contest?!)) Roger G3YRO _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector