{"id":16143,"date":"2025-12-18T06:10:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=16143"},"modified":"2025-12-18T06:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:40:20","slug":"160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\/","title":{"rendered":"160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3euD4zBl0EY?si=UUfsW_wC6kPPnQZ5\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of my daily morning propagation checks, I had a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reversebeacon.net\/main.php?zoom=30.57,148.90,1.65&amp;rows=100&amp;max_age=1,hours&amp;bands=160&amp;spotted_call=VU2GSM&amp;hide=distance_km\">Reverse Beacon Network<\/a> at around 5.15 am local time. I was surprised to see six spots from VU2GSM on 160m, on 1824 kHz. As I do not have a 160m antenna currently, I tried listening with other antennas, but could not hear him in my radio. All the stations spotting VU2GSM were in Europe, with MM0ZBH at 5129 miles the farthest. That seems to be an excellent propagation for 160m on CW. Of course, I have heard that VU2CPL has worked 100 DXCC entities on CW on 160m. But this is a time near the peak of Solar Cycle 25 when we expect activity on 160 band to be the lowest. 160m band openings are usually noted in winter, better so when the solar cycle is at its lowest point. Maybe I should try to get at least a loaded coil dipole for 160m and try the Top Band in amateur radio. I am aware that VU24DX is using an inverted L antenna and VU3CDK is experimenting with a vertical antenna for 160m. I do not have options for those at my location! The maximum signal to noise ratio (SNR) reported for VU2GSM is 28 dB at DL8LAS (4581 miles). That is is really fantastic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of my daily morning propagation checks, I had a look at Reverse Beacon Network at around 5.15 am local time. I was surprised to see six spots from VU2GSM on 160m, on 1824 kHz. As I do not have a 160m antenna currently, I tried listening with other antennas, but could not hear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As part of my daily morning propagation checks, I had a look at Reverse Beacon Network at around 5.15 am local time. I was surprised to see six spots from VU2GSM on 160m, on 1824 kHz. As I do not have a 160m antenna currently, I tried listening with other antennas, but could not hear [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T00:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T00:40:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/160m-is-Open-for-CW-from-VU.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"677\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Johnson Francis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"headline\":\"160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU!\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-18T00:40:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T00:40:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":227,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/160m-is-Open-for-CW-from-VU.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\\\/\",\"name\":\"160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU! 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Originally licensed as VU2JFP with Grade 1 license in 1985. Upgraded to Advanced Grade in 1988 and was allotted new callsign to VU2JO\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/@johnsonstechworld\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/author\\\/jf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/160m-top-band-is-open-for-cw-from-vu\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"160m (Top Band) is Open for CW from VU! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","og_description":"As part of my daily morning propagation checks, I had a look at Reverse Beacon Network at around 5.15 am local time. 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