I think Eric "The Locust", K6VVA operated a 160 contest from an AM station in Aptos, CA - at one time it had the callsign KKAP. The three 160 foot "poles" were adjacent to a hotel I stay at every year when I visit Trey, N5KO before the International DX Convention in the spring. The poles are gone now. https://pajaronian.com/aptos-flag-poles-come-down/
Maybe the Locust is on here and can tell us his topband story. 73 Tim K3LR -----Original Message----- From: Topband [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Tope Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2026 6:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Topband: The Big Guys I got the idea to operate portable from Koehn Dry Lake from Earl K6SE (SK) who had operated from there prior to me. I think he went there with K6ZZ and K6NDV and perhaps a couple of other operators whose callsigns I can't recall. They phased a pair of AB-577 military masts for their transmit antenna. When I got the idea to go in 2006 for the CQ 160 CW contest, I contacted Earl and he graciously instructed me on who to contact at the Bureau of Land Management to get permission. It was quite an experience. There was virtually no man-made noise out there. The biggest problem I had were the high winds which snapped the ridge pole on my tent. The side of the tent ended up blowing in against me all night and made a lot of acoustic noise as it was flapping in the high winds. The band never really opened to Europe that weekend, but I did manage to work over 100 Asian stations which was pretty cool. Stations on the East Coast of the North America were staggeringly loud at times. As a prelude to the Koehn operation, I operated from the eastern shore of the Salton Sea for the 2005 CQ 160 CW contest. That location provided Saltwater takeoff towards Asia-Pacific, but no advantage for CONUS or Europe. I had hoped to find a location that would provide Saltwater takeoff over a broader swath of the compass, but I wasn't successful. I also did a couple of operations from the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed. That place is interesting in that the dune buggy's zoom around the hills seemingly all night long, then in the morning the dirt bikers show up. It is a crowded place that kind of has a "Mad Max" vibe. By contrast, Koehn Lake was desolate. There is off-roading at Red Rock Canyon, but that is much further away than the activity at El Mirage which was way too close for comfort at times. Niko AC6DD was the guy who operated portable from the end of the long saltwater pier on the California Coast. He had some pretty impressive results from up there including some good openings to Europe. 73, Mike W4EF................... On 7/18/2026 11:56 PM, Jim Brown via Topband wrote: > On 7/18/2026 9:08 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote: >> Some 15 or 20 years ago there was a station operating from some dry >> lake in Southern California in 160 meter contests. He too really >> cleaned up. > > You may be thinking of W4EF, who did that a few times. Mike was on the > team that got us driving around on Mars. > > 73, Jim K9YC _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
