I also concur with JC's recommendation. Antenna analysers are useful, but you change the circuit when you remove the feed line and connect the analyser. What your analyser sees is different to what y
East Coast of Australia was smashed by thunderstorms all weekend, and I disconnected my antennas. My usual experience of Top Band on contest weekends, is that it just becomes very difficult to work a
The 160 m Band Plan was only fairly recently formalised in Australia, a decade or so ago. We have 1800 - 1875 kHz, with the CW sub-band 1810 - 1840 kHz. The digital narrow band modes seem to have est
Many people on Top Band want to work DX. Some use digital modes. Remember there are countries outside the USA (that have different band plans). Not everyone has the full 1800 - 2000 kHz to use. For e
I also have experienced the same as Tim, with all bands, and particularly the higher bands opening just as the geomagnetic storm builds. Then it is rubbish for a few or several days after. On the eve
In my station for the past several years I have run a top loaded vertical of similar dimension to what you propose. A Spider pole is something I would only use in a portable application, not a perman
I'm in the process of setting up three switched two-direction Beverages. Since September, I have had a standard Beverage up with good results. These are all 268 metres and use a pair of 2.5 mm diamet
E31A was quite good copy here this morning when I was on around my sunrise 1915z and still audible 20 minutes later. I'm sure a QSO will be quite impossible with their proximity to Europe. Some quite
Top Band has been quite dismal on my sunrise lately (1950z) to the point of me wondering why I should even bother getting out of bed early. I have heard Z60A and the pileup, but there is no point in
You will have to excuse me, as 2330z is 1030l and the sun will have been up for 3.5 hours. I will be trying around my sunrise from now until the end of summer, around 2000z for Europe, except on cont
I am happy to work anyone again, as many times as they choose to answer my CQ. Just about every signal on Top Band is DX from this part of the world. 73, Luke VK3HJ --Original Message-- From: Mark K3
This morning around 2000z I worked several European stations. The band seemed quite lively today. Stations were worked from Russia to England and Italy, with others heard from the north. Conditions s
This evening I was pleased to be hearing North America again at last. I worked one here, one there, then a pileup started. About two dozen stations across 14 states was a most enjoyable bounty! There
Wednesday night was positively awful from VK3. I called CQ for nearly an hour and gave up with no calls, and only local RBN reporting. By contrast, Tuesday night was quite good to NA, with a number o
Adrian, You are about 600 km north of me. That is certainly a sufficient distance to make a difference. Steve VK7CW is about 550 km south of me. I forgot to mention, Wednesday morning around 2030z I
It must have been "your turn" again Adrian! I worked DU7ET (more or less local), JA5BIN, and heard VE3MGY. N0FW reported my signal as "loud". There are very few folks on lately, even with an open ban
"160 meter long distance propagation is much more efficient to the south " Do you mean "between higher latitudes and lower latitudes"? To my south there are only penguins, and Tasmanians. Luke VK3HJ
Having gone from 100% phone operations to more than 90% CW in the past ten years, I have my opinions on mode use, but I'll attempt to keep them relevant. I have played a bit with RTTY and PSK, and ha
The past few evenings all I've been noticed by are RBN, apart from a few die-hard Top Banders like AA1K, K4IQJ and DU7ET. These are some of the blokes who don't let a few summer atmospherics deter th
Congratulations Rick! Who was your 100th country worked? Mine was SV3RF. In Victoria and New South Wales, a 10 m tower may be put up without Planning Permit, Building Permit, etc from local municipal