UTARC Top Band Quiz

de N5XU

This month, we look at the ``top band'' or 160 meters. How much do you know about ham radio's only medium wave band?

1. 160 Meters is called ``top band'' because: only top-quality operators spend time there, it has especially good propagation characteristics near the north pole, there is no Amateur band with a longer wavelength, the highest contest QSOs totals frequently occur on 160M, or the highest DX totals always occur on 160M?

2. A full-size dipole for 160 meters requires: 160 feet of wire, 240 feet of wire, 320 feet of wire, 480 feet of wire, or 25,600 feet of wire?

3. The most common ``receive antenna'' used for 160M signals is: a Beverage, a Bazooka, a quarter-wave vertical, a half-spiral Lincoln, or a Sterba curtain?

4. The new ARRL band plan for 160 Meters suggests that hams limit their phone operations to frequencies above: 1820 kHz, 1825 kHz, 1840 kHz, 1900 kHz, or 2235 kHz?
   
   A 160M receive antenna at N5CQ.

5. How many countries do you need to work and confirm to be eligible for 160M DXCC: 50, 75, 80, 90, or 100?

6. How many CQ Zones do you need to work and confirm to be eligible for 160M Worked All Zones: 30, 35, 40, 45, or 50?

7. When you hear a top-band signal coming from a direction other than the short or long path to the other station, you are said to be: half-baked, because this can't happen, ``working the zone,'' ``shooting the curve,'' working the station ``long haul,'' or working the station via a ``skew path?''

8. European stations typically cannot transmit on: 1820-1825 kHz, 1825-1830 kHz, the ``DX Window'' from 1830-1845 kHz, 1830-1835 kHz, or 1900-2000 kHz?

9. Most DX worked on the top band is done so: two hours after sunrise, at local noon, two hours before sunset, only during a full moon, or anytime at night?

10. In Texas, most of the atmospheric noise on 160 meters comes from: the aurora Borealis, the Van Allen belts, cosmic rays, thunderstorms, or hurricanes?

To find out the answers to this quiz, come to the UTARC General Meeting!