Welcome to new 160m band blog

This blog is the replacement of the my preview Topband blog here http://topband.blog.cz/ because of an agressive advertising and flash banners inserted by the blog provider. For older posts access You can visit the old blog link which will exist still... but it will not be updated anymore.

Effective from 1st Jan 2017 please paper QSL via OM-bureau only.


Wednesday, November 1, 2023

DXNL 2378 - Nov 1, 2023 DX Newsletter by Andreas, DK5ON

DXNL 2378 - November 1, 2023 DX Newsletter


a free and weekly service of
DARC Committee "DX"
(http://www.darcdxhf.de)

Editor: Andreas Salder, DK5ON
(e-mail: dxmb@darcdxhf.de)

translation by: Oliver Bock, DJ9AO

DX Activities
=============

3W, VIETNAM:
Alex, KU1CW, currently works near Pleiku and will be active as 3W9A
during the CQWW DX CW Contest on Nov. 25/26. QSL via homecall.

4W, TIMOR LESTE:
The large team is eager to begin their 4W8X DXpedition on Nov. 5,
with more operators joining them on Nov. 12. For more information
see: http://timor-leste-dx.de/.

CN, MOROCCO:
Stephan, DL1MOG, is currently active again as CN2MOG and will
remain so during November, while exploring the Atlas mountains on a
caravaning trip. QSL via DL1MOG.

LU, ARGENTINA:
Hoc, LU5BE/p, and Enri, LU8EFF/p, activate the rare locator FF59kt
(Rodeo in San Juan province) between Nov. 1 and 5 on 40-6m (SSB,
CW, FT8). For QSL information seee qrz.com.

LU, ARGENTINA:
Members of the Radio Club QRM Belgrano will be active with the
callsign LU4AAO between Nov. 4 and 12, marking their 2023 Tradition
Day. An award is also available. QSL via direct, via-email, eQSL.
http://lu4aao.org/cert_dia_tradicion_2023.htm

ON, BELGIUM:
OR79CLM marks the liberation of the town Knokke, 79 years ago, by
Canadian troops. QRV from Nov. 3 to 5. QSL via bureau, eQSL,
qrz.com.


IOTA
====

IOTA QRGs
CW: 28040 24920 21040 18098 14040 10114 7030 3530 kHz
SSB: 28560 28460 24950 21260 18128 14260 7055 3760 kHz


AS-116; BS7, HUANG YAN ISLAND (aka SCARBOROUGH REEF): Gil, 4F2KWT,
announces that he has received permission to visit the island Bajo
de Masinloc (a Filipino-Spanish name for Scarborough Reef). More
information to follow later.

OC-040; E6, NIUE ISLAND: Michael, DF8AN, continues his trip around
the Pacific and will be active as E6AJ from Niue between Nov. 3 and
10 on the following frequencies: CW: 3519, 5354, 7010, 10109,
14019, 18069, 21019, 24890, 28019, 50105 kHz. SSB: 3795, 7125,
14215, 18140, 21295, 24940, 28485, 50140 kHz. FT4: 3575, 7047,
10140, 14080, 18104, 21140, 24919, 28180 kHz. FT8: 3567, 5356,
7059, 10131, 14093, 18098, 21094, 24911, 28094, 50313 kHz. Before
and after he signs ZL/DF8AN from Auckland. QSL via DF8AN (d/B).

OC-065; H40, REEF ISLANDS: Jun, JH4RHF, now wants to operate from
Pigeon Island as H40RH between Nov. 2 and 11. QRV mostly on CW and
FT8 on 40-6m. QSL via OE1JUN.

OC-155; V6, WEST CHUUK group: Cezar, VE3LYC, signs V62P from Pulap
Island between the 1st and 7th of November, mostly on CW. This IOTA
reference has only been activated once before in 2004. QSL via
VE3LYC, OQRS.

OC-299P; V6, YAP EAST group: Cezar, VE3LYC, then moves on to Satawalu
Island for November 9 to 16 with the callsign V62S.
This will be the first activation of OC-299. QSL via VE3LYC, OQRS.


Unfortunately, only very few of teams are focused on the CW operation or SSB so the nightmare is continuing... But let's try to track Michael, DF8AN from Pacific and maybe Alex, KU1CW from Vietnam.


73 - Petr, OK1RP
.../-.-

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Who's Who on TopBand & JA's 160m Privileges

Hi all,

just few links in case you forgot where to find them...



Who is who on TopBand

JA 160m bandplan

UK 160m bandplan

US 160m bandplan

IARU Ragion 1 HF bandplan

IARU Region 2 HF bandplan

IARU Region 3 HF bandplan


Do not remember when you are operating on 160m band that JA's has no longer just small 1907.5 - 1912.5kHz window but they have Privileges to operate down too.


Japan Expands 160m band Privileges


Effective on 21 April 2020, Japanese amateurs can operate in expanded frequency segments on 160m and 80m bands as described below.


160m band

          1,800 — 1,810 kHz   All Modes (New segment)

          1,810 — 1,825 kHz   CW (Existing segment)

          1,825 — 1,875 kHz   All Modes (New segment)

          1,907.5 — 1912.5 kHz CW, NB Data (Existing segment)



73 - Petr, OK1RP

.../-.-

Monday, January 31, 2022

CQ160 CW 2021 - Single Op Low Power Europe plaque winner - Mindis, LY4L

 

Hi all,

I would like to send my big congratulation to Mindis, LY4L for winning the CQ160 CW 2021 - Single Op Low Power, Europe plaque !

Excellent job and results!

As always You had chance to grab the plaque sponsored by me in Single Operator - Low Power, EUROPE category in the CQ160M, CW contest this year (2022) as I renewed my plaque sponsorship for this year too...

In Memoriam to Jo, DL1RK - one of the most biggest Top Band enthusiasts, excellent CW operator and mainly one of my best friend!

The actual results of the CQ160, CW 2021 are available here:

CQ 160 - Scores

The current list of plaques and the sponsors appears at:

CQ 160 - Plaques

I wish to all of you good luck and CU on the TB soon.


73 - Petr, OK1RP
.../-.-

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

John, ON4UN - SK



Dear folks,

Very sad news just received from the daughter of John, ON4UN

It is with sadness, but also gratitude and pride, I have to let you know my father John ON4UN, has become silent key.

John’s health has steadily deteriorated throughout the year, but in the last few weeks he was home with us where he peacefully passed away yesterday November 9.

Ham Radio, and especially Low Band DXing, were my father’s lifelong passion and always had a strong presence in our house. Sometimes literally, when many of you paid us a visit or a group of DX’ers came over for a weekend of contesting. At other times in the background, when my dad was working on a project or experimenting with new equipment or antennas.

Though I don’t have a call-sign, I very much feel part of the big radio family and always will. I am very proud of everything my father has accomplished together with you, and I am grateful to the many of you who have given him so much joy over the years. We will miss him dearly, but we take comfort looking back on the beautiful life he lived as a member of the wonderful Ham Radio community.

We are planning a digital farewell ceremony on Saturday November 21st and will keep you updated on practicalities.

If you would like to send us a message please mail to ON4UN.SK@gmail.com – John’s old e-mail account is not in use anymore.

In the meantime, you can pay him a visit at QRZ.com where he always kept his resume up to date.

Marleen Devoldere

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Orion AGC Settings by Len, WT6G

Hi all,

found it on QRZ.com > all rights reserved to Len, WT6G.

After playing with the Orion for over a year I've come up with a procedure that appears to really work for these settings and I thought I'd write it up.

First, one comment. The AGC Hang time is VERY useful for FAST AGC in CW mode. Dots are often short enough at high speed, but some operators shorten them intentionally. Frequently the signal length of a single dot is so short the AGC of any rig has trouble acting properly, which makes the signal harder to copy and leads to operator fatigue.

This is easily fixed using the AGC Hang time. I typically use a hang time of .12 seconds or less for about 22 wpm, but if you are slower you can increase this a bit. I've played with settings as high as .25 seconds for novice speeds, and find values of .04 and .08 more useful for high speed CW during contests.

This setting means that once the agc level is determined by a signal, the dsp will hold that level for the indicated amount of time. It helps to visualize this in terms of the frequency that the signal is "evaluated". For example, if the Hold Time is set for .250 Seconds, the AGC will be evaluated 4 times per second, or once every 250 milliseconds. This is ok for very slow CW. Faster speeds should use faster sampling or shorter Hold Times. The Orion offers holdtimes of .04 .08 and .12 seconds, which are very useful for fast CW. Try adjusting this while listening to CW on your favorite band with the Fast AGC set and you will really see what a great feature Hold Time can be!




To set the SQUELCH control use the following procedure:

1. Preamp OFF, RF Gain 100, no antenna connected, AGC slow Set the bandwidth for the mode you normally use with slow AGC ie SSB, 2.8 KHz


2. Select the Main RX then got to Menus, RX and select Main RX Sql.


3. The default is -127 dBm. Decrease this until the audio is squelched. Be sure to find the exact point where it squelches. On my Orion this happens at -110 dBm.


4. Now select the slow Threshold for Main AGC and increase the number slowly from the default .37 uV until the radio unsquelches (ie The audio comes back. On my Orion this happens at .59 uV.

At this point, your DSP has some reasonable levels for Squelch, and AGC threshold. The audio should never be muted by the squelch and the AGC action will begin at a realistic level for your radio.

You may notice, if you don't set these values as I've described, that the RF gain control will unsquelch the radio as you decrease it if you have the squelch set.

To demonstrate this, leave the sensitivity set at .37, squelch the audio, and then return to normal operation and decrease the RF Gain below 100. My audio pops back on! Once you follow the procedures outlined above, this little anomaly will go away, and you will note what appears to be a smoother operating AGC. I didn't write the code, and it's not Open Source so I'll have to admit some lack of knowledge on the exact effect this has on the radios firmware, but it seems to improve performance.

Repeat the procedure for "med", "fast" and "prog" at the bandwidths you typically use for each of these. I set up "slow" and "med" at 2.8 KHz. "fast" and "prog" are set up at 250 Hz. "fast" and "prog" work nicely at 500 Hz when set for 250 Hz.

AFTER the AGC is set up, you can adjust the Hang Time for the AGC speeds you normally use in CW. On my orion I set this to .12 for "fast" and .08 for "prog". I also set the decay slope at 200 dB/s for "prog", 5 dB/s for "slow", 40 dB/s for "med", and 80 dB/s for "fast".

In CW, I usually use "fast" and then switch to "prog" for really fast QSO's. I use "slow" and "med" for SSB with no hang time.

NOTE: If you set your bandwidth too narrow, (ie 100 Hz) you may have
trouble making these adjustments. I recommend 250 Hz minimum because at 100 Hz it's sometimes hard to hear enough noise without a signal to tell if the RX is squelched or not. Of course this note applies to CW ops. You can get really confused if your filters are not centered.

Accordingly, you should have the additional roofing filters properly  centered before you make the AGC adustments. This is simple to do. I accomplish it as follows:

a. Select a bandwidth using the BW control equal to the filter you are aligning. For example, 500 Hz or 250 Hz. Tune in a cw signal and in the Filtr menu vary the Center Frequency Adjustment.

b. As you move it around you should see your S meter change. note the points on the ends where the signal goes away (a weak signal will drop completely out) This will give you two numbers. For my 500 Hz filter, I noticed the signal edges appeared at -200 and +550. (this depends on signal strength).
The difference between these points is 750. Divide this by 2 to get the center of the passband, and then add this to the lowest number to get the absolute setting. 750/2 = 375 -200 + 375 = 175 ... I set the control to 170 since values of 10 are the only resolution available. Obviously you can do this quite accurately with a voltmeter on your audio and a constant CW tone signal source, but you get "close enough" by ear for all practical purposes.

I find a strong CW signal and the S Meter is pretty accurate to find the edges.

Don't be surprised if you start to hear some incredible stuff while ou're adjusting these settings. I was on 40 meters adjusting my 250 Hz filter after the last software upgrade and copied some JA's in QSO.

There is nothing like a 250 Hz roofing filter followed by a 100 Hz  DSP filter that does not ring! With the settings made as described above you can actually tune accross the band at 100 Hz bandwidth in 10 Hz or less step width and hear and work stations!

I have all of the roofing filters in place from 250 Hz up, and I love the performance of the Orion. There's nothing like it at any price.

/Len WT6G

Friday, April 24, 2020

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

160m band beacons list (update 3Mar20)

Hi,
there is an improved list of the TOP band beacons. As You can see it is still "trial" and it's not final version and many of the beacons listed over here was reported years ago... maybe an operation has been cancelled or so. I will be appreciated to get any report or info about beacons from 160m band in Your location to put it into the list.



(kHz)

Call

beacon (available) informations

1700.0

CRJ

Maraba (Carajas), Brazil, B 06:06.7S 050:00.2W

1725.0

GA

Goroka, Papua New Guinea, PNG 06:04.3S 145:23.3E

1730.0

FRA

Juiz de For a, Brazil, B 21:46.0S 043:23.0W

1734.0

XPC

Chapeco, Brazil, B 27:07.0S 052:38.9W

1735.0

XPR

Unid Oil Platform? Off coast of Brazil?

1804.8

VP8VHF

GD18DH, Stanley, 16wpm (26Oct17)

1805.0

VO1NA

gm38na, 1W -> inactive (29Nov17)

1810.5

YR2TOP

KN04RU, Zlatita "v v v", 8 s carrier, no 24/7 op., 100W, inv. L, via YO2LC, YR2TOP (11Oct17)

1812.1

AI5

beacon (0011 01 May)

1815.0

KB6FPW/B

beacon RBN reported by N6TV (0052z 20Feb20)

1816.0

GT1

fishnet beacon (0223 01 Aug)

1817.0

ZS1J

kf15pf, 1W

1818.1

4EMU

fish beacon (0450 16 Sep)

1818.5

DIGI

ZL beacon (0952 18 May)

1818.6

ZL

beacon ? (1429 02 Oct)

1820.8

3IBY

fishnet beacon (0059 01 Aug)

1821.1

UT8

beacon (2118 11 Sep 2008)

1822.0

3RPD

beacon (1007 18 Jan)

1822.2

BA4EE

fish beacon

1823.2

UMTL

beacon (2118 11 Sep 2008)

1824.0

PAU

fishnet beacon (0239 08 Aug)

1825.0

FG5

beacon, regular ID (0453 09 Sep)

1825.1

IS0

fish beacon (0209 29 Apr)

1825.4

9V1PC

beacon mode (2141 14 Apr)

1826.0

IV2

fishnet beacon (0215 20 Aug)

1826.9

4BOI

beacon (1103 01 Mar)

1826.9

3RAD

fish beacon (0504 02 Apr)

1827.0

3RAD

fish beacon (0456 13 Feb)

1827.0

4BOI

beacon, three ID's every few mins (0221 27 Oct)

1827.0

3RAD

fish net beacon (0615 03 Jan)

1827.0

3BOI

driftnet beacon (0157 13 Dec)

1828.0

3NQA

fishnet beacon (0107 15 Feb)

1828.0

LL5

fishnet beacon (0303 07 Oct)

1828.2

DST

Loud fishnet beacon

1829.0

3RLX

beacon, fishnet ? (1340 20 Nov)

1830.4

3LPB

driftnet beacon (0107 12 Feb)

1830.5

3LPB

driftnet beacon

1831.5

3LVP

beacon ?

1832.0

PW2

fishnet beacon (0247 24 Jul)

1833.3

NH1

beacon (2118 11 Sep 2008)

1835.0

KB4

beacon (0549 30 Sep)

1836.2

SK50AU

KP04LQ 

1837.0

IW3FZQ

JN55VF, Monselice PD, 8W, Dipole

1840.0

OK0EK

JN89QG, 4W (29Nov17 -> inactive)

1843.2

I1YRB

JN35UB, Torre Bert, QRSS3, 0.2W, vert., 24/7, via I1RFQ

1843.2

I1DFS

JN54AC, Nr La Spezia, QRSS3

1854.0

OKM1

JO70UF, Stezery, on air 0400-1800UTC, 60m vertical, 100W, via OK1FMZ, http://www.ok0ev.cz

1875.0

DL3KR

JO63LV, Demmin “test”, 5W, dipole (27Dec14)

1960.0

GB3SSS

IO70IA, off (Poldhu), 9 pwr steps, -6 db each, id+carr(30s)+PSK at 0,15,30,45 min each hr, GB3SSS

1995.6

XE3EOL

EL51HH

1998.0

SA6RR

JO67KI, Oxaback, "qrpp+id+ttt", 0.8W, inv.L, SM6BGP (4Feb17) 

Last update : 3-Mar-2020
Do not hesitate to email me if any information is not valid or if You have any new one...
73, Petr OK1RP
.../-.-


Thanks for update to:

Per, SM2LIY (29-Jul-2015)
Jul, OK1SP (28-Nov-2017)
Jan, OK1FMZ (29-Nov-2017
Martin, LU5DX (29-Nov-17)

Beacons unconfirmed > under investigation (3Mar20):

1815.0   KB6FPW/B RBN reported by N6TV (0052z 20Feb20)
1836.2   SK50AU   KP04LQ                       
1837.0   IW3FZQ   Monselice PD, JN55VF, 8W, Dipole
1843.157 I1DFS    Nr La Spezia, JN54AC, QRSS3
1843.167 I1YRB    Torre Bert, JN35UB, 0.2W, Vert., QRSS3, 24/7
1995.6   XE3EOL   EL51HH

1804.8   VP8VHF   GD18DH, Stanley, (26Oct17), 16wpm
1875.0   DL3KR    JO63LV, Demmin "test", 5W, dip. (27Dec14)
1998.0   SA6RR    JO67KI, Oxaback, "qrpp+id+ttt", 0.8W, inv.L, SM6BGP(4Feb17)