Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[Doug Renwick]

Nick you make a good point about weak people.

The statement "GO WITH THE FLOW" or get out of the way" is flawed. 
The nice thing about this hobby is one can focus on many different aspects.
You don't have to change to go with the flow. If playing with FT8 turns your
crank then enjoy your hobby.

But don't curse me for being traditional. Last checking I find that CW and
SSB, etc are still legal modes. FT8 is not going to force me to 'get out of
the way' and off the air.

BTW I have deleted all the stupid and hateful comments I have received
because I offered an opinion. I really was surprised at the lack of
character by some prominent individuals, unfortunately, mostly Canadian. I
could go on.

Then there were others who offered a rational discussion. Thank you for
standing above the whiners and the SJW.

Doug, operating real ham radio

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein 
-Original Message-

Hi All

"As I noted to VE5RA - the world has changed.  Basically, it is fast 
becoming time to "GO WITH THE FLOW" or get out of the way."

The world has always changed..

Just weak people in our time is becoming more and more.

Very appropriate quote .. :

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its 
limits."
Albert Einstein

---
Nick, UY0ZG
http://www.topband.in.ua


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Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[FZ Bruce]

JFK was correct. Prestige comes from the degree of difficulty, Why
some are running QRP, and other limiting factors.. 

73

Bruce- K1FZ

-From: "Hans Hjelmström" 
To: "Ed Sawyer"
Cc: topband@contesting.com
Sent: Monday November 11 2019 1:14:25PM
Subject: Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

Agree with Ed/N1UR to 100%. Thats the big point.
 Kind regards to you all
 Hans SM6CVX
 > 11 nov 2019 kl. 18:25 skrev Ed Sawyer :
 > 
 > As JFK said "not because its easy but because its hard". Making it
easy by
 > "decoding inaudible signals" should give no true 160M fan pleasure.
The
 > whole point of learning the prop and building the transmit and
receive
 > arrays and placing stations near the coast etc etc etc is BECAUSE
its hard.
 > A Zone 2 160M DXpedition for CQ 160 CW would be a far better place
and time
 > to try and work Asia, in my opinion.
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > Zone 2 to Asia should stay hard, otherwise whats the pleasure? I
worked BY
 > long path on 80M for my one and only zone 24 on 80M. Have never
worked it on
 > 160M. I hope to someday. But will skip the "sub audible" attempts
to make
 > that happen.
 > 
 > 
 > 
 > Ed N1UR
 > 
 > _
 > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband [1] -
Topband Reflector

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Reflector
 

Links:
--
[1] http://www.contesting.com/_topband
[2] http://www.contesting.com/_topband

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Topband: Bog ideas

[Mikek]

I forgot the link in my last post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuMwGDK6IhQ=42s



>I'm getting serious about running another BOG antenna, my first was 
destroyed by

>a bulldozer after the hurricane.
> As long as I'm putting in the labor, I want to build the best I can. 
I have searched
>and don't find anything really new, just match and terminate properly, 
keep it on the ground,
>not covered by debris, and make good grounds. W8JI has the ferrite 
loading idea, for regular BOGs,
>which I did use about 9 binocular cores (thru one hole) on my previous 
BOG.

> Are there any improvements to BOG antennas floating around?
>My main use will be AM BCB, but some 160M and 80M, but any 
optimization would be for AM band use.

> Here is a comparison of my 250ft BOG to my 150ftlong wire, 30ft high.
>Note: my B0G feed line was twisted speaker wire. That's a subject for 
a different thread.

>
>   Mikek



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Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[Hans Hjelmström]

Agree with Ed/N1UR to 100%. Thats the big point.
Kind regards to you all
Hans SM6CVX
> 11 nov 2019 kl. 18:25 skrev Ed Sawyer :
> 
> As JFK said "not because its easy but because its hard".  Making it easy by
> "decoding inaudible signals" should give no true 160M fan pleasure.  The
> whole point of learning the prop and building the transmit and receive
> arrays and placing stations near the coast etc etc etc is BECAUSE its hard.
> A Zone 2 160M DXpedition for CQ 160 CW would be a far better place and time
> to try and work Asia, in my opinion.
> 
> 
> 
> Zone 2 to Asia should stay hard, otherwise whats the pleasure?  I worked BY
> long path on 80M for my one and only zone 24 on 80M. Have never worked it on
> 160M.  I hope to someday.  But will skip the "sub audible" attempts to make
> that happen.
> 
> 
> 
> Ed  N1UR
> 
> _
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Topband: Bog ideas

[Mikek]

I'm getting serious about running another BOG antenna, my first was 
destroyed by

a bulldozer after the hurricane.
 As long as I'm putting in the labor, I want to build the best I can. I 
have searched
and don't find anything really new, just match and terminate properly, 
keep it on the ground,
not covered by debris, and make good grounds. W8JI has the ferrite 
loading idea, for regular BOGs,

which I did use about 9 binocular cores (thru one hole) on my previous BOG.
 Are there any improvements to BOG antennas floating around?
My main use will be AM BCB, but some 160M and 80M, but any optimization 
would be for AM band use.

 Here is a comparison of my 250ft BOG to my 150ftlong wire, 30ft high.
Note: my B0G feed line was twisted speaker wire. That's a subject for a 
different thread.


  Mikek

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Topband: 160m Conditions Last Night

[Doug Renwick]

Very good over the pole real ham radio (cw) conditions from Northern Europe
last night in west NA. Some stations had amazing signals; a few of the
strongest were LY7M, YL2SM and LA1MFA.

Doug

Canada; the ship of fools where corruption and politics are synonymous

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Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[Ed Sawyer]

As JFK said "not because its easy but because its hard".  Making it easy by
"decoding inaudible signals" should give no true 160M fan pleasure.  The
whole point of learning the prop and building the transmit and receive
arrays and placing stations near the coast etc etc etc is BECAUSE its hard.
A Zone 2 160M DXpedition for CQ 160 CW would be a far better place and time
to try and work Asia, in my opinion.

 

Zone 2 to Asia should stay hard, otherwise whats the pleasure?  I worked BY
long path on 80M for my one and only zone 24 on 80M. Have never worked it on
160M.  I hope to someday.  But will skip the "sub audible" attempts to make
that happen.

 

Ed  N1UR

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Topband: Excellent condx

[VE6WZ_Steve]

Last night the band was wide open from before sunset till about 0500z here at 
VE6WZ.

32 EU callsigns were in the log, with some good signals from RA4LW, UA4HBW, 
R3DE and RA2FV.  It was really nice to see the band open up to southern EU with 
SV2DCD and IK7JTF calling in.  Numerous callers from OK, SP, OM, HA, LA, OH, 
SM, LY, DL and G also checked in.

Pertti at OG2M had an exceptional signal, and later in the evening called in as 
OG3W running only 60w.  Len SM7BIC called me with 30w, and I heard him but 
could not quite get his call.  After many requests for repeats, he called in 
with full power.

The last three nights have been great into EU on the polar path:
Nov 11- 23 EU worked
Nov 10- 34 EU worked
Nov 9 - 47 EU worked

This season condx have been excellent in spite of the recurring coronal hole.
Since Aug 11 I have worked 325 EU, with 160 unique callsigns, 113 AS worked 
with 75 unique, and 109 OC with only 20 unique.
50 DXCC so far.  All CW.

Its great to see so much CW activity.  Numerous first time 160m stations have 
been logged this season.
 
TX is using my 2 el parasitic array, RX is always diversity with 9 circle vert 
array and Beverages (either single or broadside phased).  Radio is either the 
K3s or Flex 6600.

I continue to upload audio recordings of some of my QSOs, if you worked me our 
QSO might be here (file name is call with date of QSO): 
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12GqZMPZ4R2nPLGbOVho6AHGkV9tD_MHf?usp=sharing
 


73, de steve ve6wz
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Topband: OK/OM DX contest... thanks.

[Frantisek Mikulenka]

Hi  all top band  enthusiasts,

I'd like to thank to all the stations that  called me  during  OK/OM Dx contest 
this weekend.
   Specially  to US  the  conditions were  extraordinary. It  was a super 
thrill at my side to be called by
by some of the  well known big guns  from low band community   from this  far 
distant  area.
 W0FLS, N6TR,  AA6AA, K7RL, N7UA, N7DD and VE6WZ  all these asnwered  my  CQ  
and give me
a good feeling  that CW is  alive and it may  still  be  worth to invest  to  
our whole living nice hobby.

73 Franta OK2BUZ

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Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[uy0zg]

Hi All

"As I noted to VE5RA - the world has changed.  Basically, it is fast 
becoming time to "GO WITH THE FLOW" or get out of the way."


The world has always changed..

Just weak people in our time is becoming more and more.

Very appropriate quote .. :

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its 
limits."

Albert Einstein

---
Nick, UY0ZG
http://www.topband.in.ua

k1zm--- via Topband писал 2019-11-11 10:32:

HI Gary
Zone 2 is rare over in JA for a number of reasons.  These are:
1) The first is that there are only a handful of licensed/active
amateurs in ZONE 2
2) Of those that are on the air - very few of them have even as much
as a 64 ft tower
3) Of the remaining number - there is very little serious interest in
160m - most of the amateurs there prefer to operate on the higher
frequency bands
4) One of the best guys in ZONE 2 is NAZ VO2NS in Labrador City,
Labrador - and he has a good station - but he is a bit too far North
and East for good propagation to JA.  I am not saying it never happens
but it is RARE.
5) Even a really talented DX'er and 160m afficionado - my friend FRANK
DAVIS VO1HP has only managed to work JA from near St Johns
Newfoundland - and that was after some 2 years of winter skeds with
Kaz JA8ISU.  Frank has tried for several years to to work Robert DU7ET
- and they have (to my knowledge) not yet made a 160m qso.
So it is JUST DAMNED HARD to work from VO1/VO2 and Zone 2 into 
Japan.and Asia. 

Miriam and I are pretty sure that we know what we are doing on Topband
- I have 340/340 160m DXCC on CW, well over 150 DXCC on 160M SSB
(including ST0 and VP8SSI) and have managed to make DXCC HONOR ROLL
via signal band 160m only - something which only 3 amateurs in the
world have achieved and I was NUMBER 2 in doing so.
But even with this amount of experience - over the course of 6
straight nights on the air from ZONE with a decent antenna system -
with a single purpose of trying to work our JA friends who need the
zone - we were only able to manage 6 qso's - and these had to be made
on FT8 because we could not hear the JA's on CW mode (we tried
repeatedly with JA8ISU - and if you cannot hear/work KAZ on Topband
from Northern Hokkaido - well you cannot hear one of the most savvy
and best equipped 160m amateurs in all of JAPAN.)  Kaz is a super op,
dedicated to the band, and has a rock crushing signal here at VY2ZM -
from late September to  mid March - first on the short path starting
at 0730Z and he is again workable from 2020z in November via the long
path - until his SR occurs.
If it is not clear yet to anyone reading this post - whether you may
or may not think much of FT8 - it is clearly superior to CW for weak
signal work on Topband and less sensitive to "noise" to boot.  Just
listen on 1840 or watch DX SUMMIT for a few days and you will see this
kind of stuff there - with little or NO DX on CW mode: at the same
time:
9K25T5VP8TA2UA9UA0JA's (tons of them!)T6
Get the picture?  While it may sadden me as a dyed in the wool CW
DX'er on Topband to see this happen, it is very clear to me where we
are going here.  I still enjoy all the CW contests on 160m which bring
the CW band to life once again - meaning ARRL 160m/CQ 160m/The
STEW,/ARRL DX CW/CQWPX CW etc  Apart from those weekends though, it is
SLOW SLOW SLOW down in the CW segment of Topband today.
As I noted to VE5RA - the world has changed.  Basically, it is fast
becoming time to "GO WITH THE FLOW" or get out of the way.
Thanks for your question Gary - it was a good one.
73 JEFF  K1ZM/VY2ZM

Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available
worldwide through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Radio
Society of Great Britain, & Amazon
















-Original Message-
From: Gary Smith 
To: Topband 
Sent: Mon, Nov 11, 2019 5:08 am
Subject: Re: Topband: A Bit of Zone 2 History Was Made Last Week

I probably should know, but what makes
Zone 2 such a rarity for JA & the others?
The few operators from 2? Propagation
issues?

73,

Gary
KA1J


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Re: Topband: Why is ZONE 2 so Rare in JAPAN???

[k1zm--- via Topband]

HI Gary
Zone 2 is rare over in JA for a number of reasons.  These are:
1) The first is that there are only a handful of licensed/active amateurs in 
ZONE 2
2) Of those that are on the air - very few of them have even as much as a 64 ft 
tower
3) Of the remaining number - there is very little serious interest in 160m - 
most of the amateurs there prefer to operate on the higher frequency bands
4) One of the best guys in ZONE 2 is NAZ VO2NS in Labrador City, Labrador - and 
he has a good station - but he is a bit too far North and East for good 
propagation to JA.  I am not saying it never happens but it is RARE.
5) Even a really talented DX'er and 160m afficionado - my friend FRANK DAVIS 
VO1HP has only managed to work JA from near St Johns Newfoundland - and that 
was after some 2 years of winter skeds with Kaz JA8ISU.  Frank has tried for 
several years to to work Robert DU7ET - and they have (to my knowledge) not yet 
made a 160m qso.
So it is JUST DAMNED HARD to work from VO1/VO2 and Zone 2 into Japan.and Asia. 
Miriam and I are pretty sure that we know what we are doing on Topband - I have 
340/340 160m DXCC on CW, well over 150 DXCC on 160M SSB (including ST0 and 
VP8SSI) and have managed to make DXCC HONOR ROLL via signal band 160m only - 
something which only 3 amateurs in the world have achieved and I was NUMBER 2 
in doing so.
But even with this amount of experience - over the course of 6 straight nights 
on the air from ZONE with a decent antenna system - with a single purpose of 
trying to work our JA friends who need the zone - we were only able to manage 6 
qso's - and these had to be made on FT8 because we could not hear the JA's on 
CW mode (we tried repeatedly with JA8ISU - and if you cannot hear/work KAZ on 
Topband from Northern Hokkaido - well you cannot hear one of the most savvy and 
best equipped 160m amateurs in all of JAPAN.)  Kaz is a super op, dedicated to 
the band, and has a rock crushing signal here at VY2ZM - from late September to 
 mid March - first on the short path starting at 0730Z and he is again workable 
from 2020z in November via the long path - until his SR occurs.
If it is not clear yet to anyone reading this post - whether you may or may not 
think much of FT8 - it is clearly superior to CW for weak signal work on 
Topband and less sensitive to "noise" to boot.  Just listen on 1840 or watch DX 
SUMMIT for a few days and you will see this kind of stuff there - with little 
or NO DX on CW mode: at the same time:
9K25T5VP8TA2UA9UA0JA's (tons of them!)T6
Get the picture?  While it may sadden me as a dyed in the wool CW DX'er on 
Topband to see this happen, it is very clear to me where we are going here.  I 
still enjoy all the CW contests on 160m which bring the CW band to life once 
again - meaning ARRL 160m/CQ 160m/The STEW,/ARRL DX CW/CQWPX CW etc  Apart from 
those weekends though, it is SLOW SLOW SLOW down in the CW segment of Topband 
today.
As I noted to VE5RA - the world has changed.  Basically, it is fast becoming 
time to "GO WITH THE FLOW" or get out of the way.
Thanks for your question Gary - it was a good one.
73 JEFF  K1ZM/VY2ZM

Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide 
through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Radio Society of Great 
Britain, & Amazon
















-Original Message-
From: Gary Smith 
To: Topband 
Sent: Mon, Nov 11, 2019 5:08 am
Subject: Re: Topband: A Bit of Zone 2 History Was Made Last Week

I probably should know, but what makes 
Zone 2 such a rarity for JA & the others? 
The few operators from 2? Propagation 
issues?

73,

Gary
KA1J


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