Roger I think the beacons towards the bottom of the band are fishing nets (drift nets) in eastern Europe/Asia. They are VERY loud on my east beverage. I use 1812.60 to call CQ because that falls nicely in between the fishing net signals.
I only had a quick listen this weekend on 160m and agree that condx seemed well down compared with the days running up to ARRL DX. 73, Ian G4IIY -----Original Message----- From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Roger Kennedy Sent: 19 February 2018 09:22 To: [email protected] Subject: Topband: Conditions on 160m for ARRL Contest Well on Friday night I couldn't hear one single American station . . . even though I heard a couple of Southern Europe stations working a few. Saturday night conditions were better, but signals were well down on what they have been for the past few weeks. However, in the 3 hours I spent on the band (at different times in the night) I did manage to work 61 American stations . . . including a few in Brazil and the Caribbean. For future reference, here in Britain there are about 6 Navigation Beacons between 1810 and 1818 kHz (they sound like the old Decca HiFix) . . . these make copying weak signals VERY difficult, so a good idea to avoid this part of the band ! Roger G3YRO _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband --- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG. http://www.avg.com _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
