The next meeting of the Story County Amateur Radio Club will be at 7:30 pm, Thursday, December 3, 2009, at the 4-H building on the southwest corner of 13th Street and Stange Road in Ames.
The program for the November SCARC meeting will be
Top Band—Getting on and Having Fun on 160 Meters
Even though 160 meters was one of the first bands used by radio amateurs, it remains one of the most interesting and challenging amateur radio bands. The band is widely used (in months other than June and July) for nets, ragchewing, DXing, and some contests. Long-distance propagation on 160 meters is not well understood, and it is difficult to predict good conditions.
We will start with a Webinar video of a presentation given by K6MM, providing some general background on 160 meters and details of how he constructed his “No Excuses 160 Meter Vertical” antenna, designed to provide good performance while fitting on a small lot. The antenna was featured on pages 32-36 of the June 2009 issue of QST. After the video we will have some discussion from top-band users at the meeting on their antennas and experiences on topband. Members who have been active on top band are invited to bring memorable QSLs and stories to share with those who might want to try topband in the future.