Hi Gang
Our team is getting ready for V84SAA and we just posted some operating notes
for Topband on our website which is now live.
In addition to what is there, please take a look at the tips below which may
HELP U WORK US!
From 9M0W - I personally learned this is one of the most gawd-awful paths into
Eastern NA imaginable!
It is hard to appreciate what we will be dealing with coming out of our
headphones:
a) Doppler shift on weak NA signals.
b) Dropped portions of morse CW characters - like instead of HEARING W4ZV -
what I swore I heard was N4IS calling me one morning. I totally missed the W -
I heard the 4 and from the Z I did not hear the two DAHS in the Z.
What I then heard was 4 dit dit and then from the V I heard the dit dit dit and
not the DAH at the end of the V!!
So since that is what we will be dealing with - even with the BEST xmit
antennas we can manage and some good RX antennas, we are going to have to work
very HARD to deal with this kind of tough path.
BUT YOU CAN HELP US!!!
Please do *****not**** simply call us ONCE at 35wpm on a qsb peak - and then
wait for the next several CQ passes from us to call us again.
That may seem logical - but it is not what will likely get you in our log.
I personally recommend that you keep sending your call - over and over - which
in the end may allow us to piece it together somehow.
KJ9I is a perfect example of someone who did it right at 9M0W. I blew his call
several times - but because he kept sending it over and over - I finally
managed to piece it together and Dave now has a richly deserved 9M0W qsl to
show for it.
So without beating this to death too much - please appreciate what we will be
dealing with and try to adapt your calling sequences to what we know will work
best for US.
9M0W was a humbling experience for us out there - and even though you will have
some pretty damned good lowband ops trying to work you on Topband - I can
guarantee you that it will be really tough to get anyone East of the
Mississippi River into our 160m log.
Please note - we have a really good darkness overlap with all of NA starting at
our SUNSET each evening.
We also will have some great LONGPATH opening chances into VE1/VE9/VY2/VO1/VO2
and then W1/2/3 at your local SUNSET here on the East Coast of NA.
Remember - it will likely be SHORTPATH well before your local SR time (meaning
you aim to the N/NW) skirting the auroral ovals at our Sunset and you want to
look SE at your SUNSET over the long path to work us - meaning you aim at about
150 degrees. This will correspond to our local SR event.
Last year there really was no path for us SE over the longpath at our SS -
although NO3M reported the path did shift around at his Rx location - but even
for him it was mainly a shortpath event. And he should know because Eric was
our most NE contact from 9M0W and he heard us several times coming over the
pole out of the NE.
Good luck to all - we are a little more than a month away now.
HNY to all
73 JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM
Jeff BriggsDXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters Available worldwide
through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal Society of Great
Britain, & Amazon
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