[AMRadio] Top Band

[Jim Wilhite]

Well, well we may hear you on the air huh, Rick?

On 160 there is a group, mostly along and near the Eastern 
Seaboard on 1.885.  There is also some activity on 1.980 and 
1.985 which will include some 8s,9s, and 4s.

In the 5 land area not many people are active on 160 for 
some reason.  I hope you join WD5BNA, W5TOP, KA5RHK, KC9VF 
and myself on the Top Band AM.  There is a group of mostly 
0s and some 7s on 1.915.  That is where I stay most of the 
time since I have a hard time hearing many of the guys on 
the East Coast because of their antenna issues.  Many of 
them have dipoles quite low and that doesn't do much for me 
here in the mid-USA.  On 1.915 you should hear Arne/K0AS, 
Dewey/W0ZUS around 9 PM most nights.  They will be joined by 
a couple of Canadian brethren, and several others in the 
North county.

There are some mid-West stations (SSB of course) on 1.918 
and 1.913 which can cause some trouble depending on 
conditions.  There also is a group of SSBers along the AR, 
OK, TX, LA border who run lots of power that use 1.990 or 
thereabouts.  It makes 1.985 almost useless for me.

Brian/WA5AM should be on this year with his Gates, so that 
will make a few.  I had hoped more guys would migrate up to 
the Top Band, but that hasn't happened .

I do suggest you put up a GOOD antenna for the GE and with 
that power plus a good receive situation, you should do real 
well.

The choices are yours.  I use my GK 500A with about 350 
watts and can move up and down the band quite easily so if I 
hear you, I will call and you do the same.

Jim/W5JO




> What seems to be the two favorite frequencies on the 160 
> meter band that
> folks on this reflector use?  I am inching closer and 
> closer to having the
> GE complete and need to order some rocks from Bry.  I have 
> a couple of ovens
> coming in next week so I have to wait to see what size 
> case I'll need.  The
> old GE is making RF on the BC band around 1450kc, of 
> course, into a dummy
> load.  She's not up to full steam, but with a little 
> tweaking  I think it
> just might make some noise.
>
> Thanks,
> Rick/K5IAR