I was quite amazed this evening at around 00:30Z after finally working 3B7C
on 80 I decided to check 160. The only antenna I have up is a Carolina
Windom that is not tuned for 160. I also have recently built a Heliax
Magnetic Loop on a rotor at ground level including an I.C.E. preamp. Jury
has been out on it's usefulness.
Low and behold there in the noise was 3B7C on 1821.5 CW. A little tweaking
on the receiver to disable the AGC and manage the RF gain and I was
listening to the most distant signal I have ever heard on 160 meters. I
don't have an antenna that will load on 160 so I called a couple of friends
that I knew needed them on 160. Hope they worked them!
I played with the Loop for a while and found I could actually hear a tiny
bit better at times using it. Quite amazing since it is at ground level.
It seems this evening that something is a bit different on the band because
I've not heard them up till now...checking almost every evening. Maybe it's
related to the sub-tropical system sitting over South FL. I noticed several
very favorable reports on the cluster as well up the east coast....
I know this probably seems a bit silly since many of you have been in this
160 meter game for a while....but this is a new experience for me.
Quite impressed!
Cecil Acuff
K5DL
Gulfport MS
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