Robin, I’ve been a ham for 57 years this year. When I started out 160 had power limitations but that went away and 160 really became popular. A few times in my early career I dropped in to listen to 160 and concluded there was nobody on that band. In a conversation many years into my ham career I told another ham that nobody was on 160. He told me I was crazy and directed me to a YouTube video of he himself switching from a 160m dipole and tuning the band . Clearly very few if any signals heard. He switched over to a beverage and suddenly like magic the band had quite a few signals. It was then that I realized that if you want to really be successful on 160 you need a real quiet antenna like a beverage. When I saw the difference I got excited and since I’m only one away from #1 honor roll I hadn’t had any challenges in some time. I looked at 160 as a way to open up new excitement for me in ham radio! I built myself around a 600 foot beverage and became active on 160 in 2015. I totally agree with your friend, “ no beverage, no contacts”. I found my beverage to be helpful up to 20 meters!
Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 4:32 AM, m.r.c. <[email protected]> wrote: If Dietmar can not pull your signal out of the noise, nobody can. His S/N threshold performance is somewhere well south of minus 10 dB. I have sat next to him and listened to him work stations I could only just detect. I will never forget him stumbling out of the VP6DX 160 tent after sunrise with blood running out of his ears from static crashes muttering "No Beverages = No Contacts" (We had real beverages that worked very well) Robin, WA6CDR, XZ0A, XZ1N, VP6DX ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dietmar Kasper" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 13, 2023 23:26 Subject: Topband: GM from Timor Leste > This is Dietmar DL3DXX, the lonely topband operator from Timor Leste. > > station situaton: > Lauhata beach about 20 miles west of Dili, village with several thousand > people > no industry, no agriculture, some fishing and living what the tourists spend > at the beach. > QTH for hamradio is more or less OK, but not enough space for 80m 4-square. > > 27m high Titanex vertical direct at the beach, today at spring tide the water > reached > the food point but not the feeding box and not the feeding, so close enough > to > sea to work. > 48 ground radials attached, SWR 1:1.2 at 1826. 250m low loss cable to reach > the shack. > > 4 beverages about 180m long hitten by domestic helpers with machetes into the > jungle > 4 days hard labour, with heat up to 48C, wild bee´s, aggressive ants and all > the > dangerous stuff, you find in jungle. Nothing for sissies. > NE to EU - almost clear, noise level 160m abt s5 > SE reverse direction EU - some noise level at s6 > NE direct path tu US - some line noise around S6 > SW reverse direction to US beverage, clear but not much heard so far (2x VK6 > s9 loud) > > On Vertical the noise is s9+10 with 300Hz filter in CW. Tried first night > without RX ants > because beverages were not ready but it was hopeless. > > We are running about double output what is allowed in US and most parts of > the > world. > We brought own bigh Diesel generator to feed up to ten stations with > amplifiers. > Thatswhy you may hear us much better as we hear you. > > How to work 4W8 on low bands: > We are aware that from this location we are crocodiles with no ears. The last > 3 nights > rain showers came over from the south and the mountains in the background > south are > full of clouds and rain. The rain here covers lot of electricity, even > withoug > lightnings > electrical discharge makes ist almost impossible to hear weak signals. > > There is not much we can do else > - switching off ? > - changing to FT8 ? > FT this is not my world, but maybe someone will try when I cannot do anymore > QSOs > I like the difficulties and challenges, thatswhy I am here. I like sitting > all > nights > at the radio listening into the noise. Will not miss it at all! > > I know you girls and guys want a contact and you are trying for hours, as > well, as I do every night. > Signals must jump over a decent point that I can hear you. If I am weak you > can stop calling. > I never will hear you. If my signal comes up try again. QSB is incredible. > Signals comes up out > of the noise for seconds and are back in the noise seconds later. If I dont > get the call in the first > try seldom there is a second chance to complete call. > > Propagation is unpredictable, yesterday the band opened suddenly into US W4 > and 5 and so it closes. > You have to watch all night long to make sure you are there at the right > moment. > > I cannot assure we can make the QSO with you. All I can is to assure, that I > am there > when the propagagion is there. In case you make it it will be a hard deserved > contact > made after nights of pain and difficulties, but it will be one of the contacts > MADE IN A LIVETIME you will remember for years. > > Thatswhy I still believe in traditional CW operation with all its pain but > also highlights. > FT stuff is just switching on the software on and looking the next morning if > the robot > have make the magic contact. You may agree or not - but this is my view. > > Here just some notes I send to W4ZV about last night traffic: > > It started suddenly with WT1L clear like a bell, then > K5RK, N5KD, KY7M, K5VMM (took a while to got his call) > K8PT easy QSO, W9OO, K5PI then I think KV0Q (not sure > if he confirmed but logged him anyway - will see) W4NU, > K4PI, N7TY, N6JV, W9AJ, then a K7??X, maybe K7SCX what > I logged but deep in noise, K7ZV, WF4U easy copy, > N0CWR, W5XO, W5IO (I think), W5IZ, K5RT, > K0KX ?? not sure . All I heard was K0?X. > Found out it was K0XP after I had logged it wrong - corrected. > Last US W3YX (QRZ.COM says PA?), so call is wrong or he > transmitted from somewhere else. > > I missed a few, I think W5XX was calling and it took me > almost 10 minutes to get his call, but suddenly found out > it was a weak DS3EXX who was a dupe so I lost the W5:-(( > I also was called by a W??DXX and having the same suffix I > tryed so hard to get his call but unfortunately could not. > > I am aware that hundreds were calling and some called > me deaf and having no RX. I know that from this location > it is tough copy. NA came up and down, you can see it > nicely looking at the reversebeacon network, filter for > call 4W8X on 160m hrd by WA7LNW. With signal strength above > 10dB I am able to hear some NA, so this will be a good > indicator if it is worth to try. > > About 50 more JAs were logged in the time without US. > Most of them we not even have worked on 80 and 40m > so I wonder what antenna and power they used :-) > > After 13z the band closed before sunrise in W6, W7 > without any QSO, so I looked at the skimmers, only > spotted in JA with 4..5 dB is not good to work anybody. > Now sitting here on an totally empty band. 80m is not > much better. It only can become better, just some more > days here until we leave at Dec 7. > Rest of the night worked about a dozen of Qs. > > In my understandig we will leave 160m station as the > last station to operate from and remove it at the last ever moment. > > This was an emotionally night, I will not forget for long time. > Maybe FT robot would have contacted more, but robots have > zero emotions, they only contact and they dont care about dupes > or what stations they contact. They have no relations to the person > behind the call, just a lifeless piece of silicon and software. > > Thats for now, more to come later > 73 DL3DXX > _________________ > 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
