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Old March 12th 04, 11:07 AM
Mark Keith
 
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"WG" wrote in message news:TmX3c.198781$Hy3.121851@edtnps89...
I know I left that one out. I find that one too noisy and you need one hell
of a good antenna to pick up anything on it besides crashes and the like.


Depends on the static level at the time. In the winter, when it's
quiet, it's really not much noisier than 80m. We've had some very
quiet nights this winter.
Also the range under normal conditions is next to nothing, (a few hundred
miles).


The range can be just as far as the other bands. The main problem in
working DX on 160m, is receiving. Most of the "big guns" use
beverages, phased short verticals, etc. Small loops can also work
fairly well to reduce noise, and give an ability to null. Many people
work far dx on 160m, but most of these type live out in the sticks
where they can have good antenna setups. Myself, I don't work much dx.
But I have worked a few countries, and hawaii 3 times using only 100
watts output. I mainly just ragchew on there. I like the band because
the skip zone is very short. You rarely "skip over" people like you
can on the higher bands. IE: 40m at night is useless for semi-close in
regional stuff. The skip zone is too long. Even 80m, the skip zone can
get kind of long in some cases in the winter, with low solar cdx. The
MUF for a certain path can drop that low in freq in such cases. Most
of the activity on 160 is in the lower half for the most part. MK