I have operated topband from the black hole of Southern California for a
couple of decades now (not counting the third decade under the LORAN band
plan). We are in a part of the world that gets EU propagation last. We
are off the back of every beverage east of the Mississippi. I have spent
my share of time using a pretty good station and a KW calling and calling
with not even a ? for a response. I also used that same station at 5 watts
and easily worked a couple of EU stations in one of the first Stew
contests.
What topband ALWAYS demands is persistence, patience, and the best skill
you can bring to the table. What topband delivers is hours and hours of
frustration, interspersed with pure magic! On topband, all the propagation
prediction programs have about the same level of accuracy as a Southern
California weatherman (where the standard is to report fair and clear in a
downpour, and threaten 4 inches of rain out of clear skies). The antenna
modeling software is better, but it does NOT model how well you will couple
into the Topband "ether".
There is only ONE way to find out how well your stations works. Be on the
air and trying night after night, month after month. Topband is NOT 20
meters where you can have a cluster alert sent to your cellphone so you can
come home, snap on the switches, and jump into the pileup on a posted
frequency with a high probability of success within a reasonable time.
My antenna can't be this bad, everyone I called who didn't answer must be
deaf and running 50KW. Nonsense. Topband is like that. If you think you
have it bad, I suggest you try operating in the mainland populated areas in
Asia. The EU folks have a severe problem with very loud and unclean
adjacent signals...but those signals DO stop occasionally, and there ARE
occasional clear spots. In Asia, there is a total roar across the entire
band that comes from a half a billion power line leaks (read arcs). (the
Smog in China is not limited to the atmosphere we breathe). This stuff is
loud enough to propagate quite a long ways, so, you can be out in the
country and still you cant hear anything (been there, done that!). This
makes a 1 KW station act like a 100KW station - a big loud signal and no
ears. You think its frustrating to call such a station? - try being at
that station and calling for hours and hearing NOTHING but noise.
Overcoming these problems requires Skill and Patience, and a willingness to
go work on the antenna again and again until its the really best you can
make it, and then work on it some more. Some contest stations use
operating techniques many of us find to be counterproductive on topband.
They do make pretty good scores. The fact is that those same stations in
the hands of an experienced topband operator (as differentiated from a
contest operator) will do significantly better. Some learn, some do not,
and their possible score suffers. The two FM5s were CQing with so little
time between calls that I was never able to complete sending my callsign
before they started in again. I finally got the attention of one of them
long enough for the operator to halt the CQ machine and work on copying my
call. HE got the contact, the other station did not. Don't whine about
the contest operating techniques, just resolve not to make that mistake
yourself. If you cant stand it, no-one other than you is in control of
your on-off switch, and you dont get penalized on your IRS taxes if you
dont work 1000 stations in 10 hours.
I found that topband was again just like I expect- unpredictable.
Operating from my city lot with all the line noise, I usually find that
strong stations hear me, and weak ones often do not- logical- BUT, not in
all cases. VY2ZM was just above my noise, (aimed elsewhere, no doubt), and
he answered instantly on the first call, several other stations several S
units out of the noise never heard me. Some didn't even ?, some answered
me easily an hour later. This is Topband, its like that!
I have a medium big antenna and a KW, and no-one can hear me. Nonsense! If
actually true, you are not coupling any energy into the antenna at all.
VSWR only means the transmitter delivers its power somewhere other than
back into the PA as heat. Go change the antenna around and see if it works
better. Topband is like that!
I did not have time to seriously operate this contest. I dont have a 160
antenna at home (or any HF antenna for that matter) and I dont have a
station at hand I can guest operate. I wanted to get on and make a few
QSOS and work some of my friends who are doing serious contest entries. So.
I grabbed 60 ft of EMT out of my pile of stuff, hooked some #18 enamel to
the top for a T hat & tilted it up against the side of my house. 55 ft of
steel sticking up, and some wire sloping down nearly to the ground to being
it to resonance. A ground?? HAH! I have copper pipes in the house. I
used them, and ran 4 65 ft radials generally north, just lying loose on the
ground. I cant run east of north, the concrete fence to my neighbors yard
is 8 ft from the antenna. By no stretch of anyone's imagination is that a
decent ground system. I did fast pass VSWR based resonance tweaking of the
length of the T-hat. I added a 2:1 step-down, and ran a coax inside to the
shop bench.
I plugged in my old TS940 and had fun for a couple of hours - it was after
midnight, so EU was "closed", and that meant that many of the CQ machines
were listening to the west. I made about 100Qs, and in the end, nearly
everyone I called, I worked, at 100W with a "slam-bam, its an antenna" for
a radiator. Worked ME, VY2, VE2 & 3, random states down the east coast,
one
of the two FM5s, KP2 & 4, KL7, KH6. Came back in about 3 and struggled
through one JA- not bad for 100W and a kludge. Before shutting down, I
tuned on up above 1825 where everyone was spread out a bit and just running
their CQ machines. Came across one +20 signal that had to be a WA0. one
call and he was in the log. RW0YDX in Zone 19.
TOP BAND IS LIKE THAT!
73
Robin, WA6CDR
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