Latecomer to 160 here, and a casual topband user who dwells in the upper 60% of the band, ragchewing on phone, mostly in the fall and winter. I am on a 5000 sq. foot lot and got on 160 with a 50 foot high inverted L and compromise ground system of 101 radials anywhere from 10 to 120 feet long. That was back when 500' of AWG 14 solid was $15. When I put that antenna up in 2003, reception wasn't great but it was workable. As time went by things deteriorated and I ended up spending a few thousand dollars on various rx antenna attempts along with preamps and a NCC1, and the MFJ versions. In spite of this, I became an alligator, able to hear strong stations and nothing else. I hated to call CQ and remember one time when a friend emailed me to tell me I had operators calling me, but I couldn't hear them. In fairness, I must say that a lot of casual 160 m. operators do not have good tx antennas for various reasons, usually ignorance, laziness or the XYL. They put up dipoles 20 feet high and expect them to work. Two years ago I gave Kiwi SDRs a try. The scales fell from my eyes. There are a few in excellent locations north of me and they have opened the band up again. I can hear stuff I could never hope to hear locally. This works for me because I am not trying for an award, or entering any contests. At first I didn't like resorting to what I considered an unorthodox modus operandi, and felt slightly embarrassed whenever I mentioned what I was using for a receiver, but the benefits so outweighed the alternative that I adapted. The downside is that I have completely lost interest in high performance receivers. A little box connected to a wire a few hundred miles north of me will blow away whatever is at the top of Sherwood's list in my shack every time. Location is everything. When I was working, I had a vague plan to move to the middle of nowhere upon retirement but as I aged, priorities changed. One time I drove around a remote part of Indiana scouting locations. Things looked good until I saw how far the nearest ER was, and found out how long it would take for an ambulance to get to me (i.e. DOA), and what I'd have to do to get fresh produce, and I am no gardener. To all you fellows who dream of a remote QTH, make the move while you have time to adjust to it and enjoy it. Don't put it off. The older you are, the harder moving becomes.
73 Rob K5UJ _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
