TOPBAND-A collection of 160M data

Of all the many aspects of ham radio I have experienced in nearly fifty years on the air, operating on 160 meters tops the list for excitement, challenge, enjoyment and frustration. I am a relative newcomer to the band, having been really active only since 1993. My accomplishments in that time are relatively modest: division winner in a couple of 160M CW contests and 209 countries worked to this date. However, the pleasure I have derived from building and experimenting with antennas and preamplifiers, chasing DX under near-impossible conditions, and attempting to understand the ever-changing propagation characteristics of 160 meters have all contributed to making this band by far my favourite. Below is a collection of information which may be of interest to others.

MY FIRST 160 METER STATION

The first radio I owned which came equipped for 160 meters was a Yaesu FT901, a beautiful hybrid rig with 100 watts output. Just before "the season" began in 1987, I installed a dual-band inverted "L" from a QST article by the late W1FB . It had a vertical portion of 46 feet and it had only 4 radials, each about 100 feet long. But it worked! My first QSO was with TI2CC followed by HH2PV and several W/K stations, all on SSB. I was hooked!

But what to do about a better antenna? That would have to wait nearly 6 years until I first installed, in the pasture on our farm, a full-size vertical for 80 meters (which I also tuned on 40 meters), developed a 160 meter loading and switching system, and installed many more radals. Meanwhile, the inverted "L" continued to perform well, yielding QSOs with several European stations when band conditions permitted.

Christmas 1990 came and Santa (aka my XYL, Liz) delivered a copy of ON4UN's book LOWBAND DXING. I found just what I was looking for: a method of linear-loading my two-band vertical, and my first real 160M DX antenna was born.

Contents

LOWBAND PREAMPLIFIERS

LOW BAND RECEIVE ANTENNAS

LOW BAND TRANSMIT ANTENNAS

TOPBAND LINKS

MODIFYING THE "CLIPPERTON L" LINEAR
FOR BETTER 160M PERFORMANCE

Last Updated on August 18, 2008