I am not an expert on DX peditions, coming late to HF and 160 meters in
my life, but I could not get over the operator at VP6D this morning on
1.826. Whoever it was, he was flying and getting the call correct the
first time every time. I was amazed at how well they were doing racking
up the Qs. There was plenty of QSB here in Maine with the signal going
from S 0.2 to about S6 on the S meter. At minimum, they were barely
copyable. At best, they were loud. I used my Europe beverage and found
that it was a tad better than my SW beverage. I am not sure what was
going on there. The Europe wires is a pair of 1150 ft bevs, and the SW
wire is shorter at about 800 ft. After making a contact, I experimented
with diversity on the K3 and had the SW wire in my right ear and the 45
degree wire in my left ear. Copy was better with diversity, but I think
I need to check my beverage terminations!! Maybe it was an arrival angle
situation that favored the longer wire's pattern. I learn something
every day.
Dave K1WHS
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