On 160 and 80, I have an 8-circle vertical receiving array. On very long
paths, it is not uncommon to see skewing. The most common example is the
path to JA, where the direct path heading should be about 330 degrees from
my QTH in New England. However, for the last couple winter seasons, when
the path has been open, it has almost always been skewed to the west or west
northwest. It has been quite rare to have a true direct path to JA on
either 160 or 80 from here. Because my array is strictly vertically
polarized with no horizontal component, the skewing appears to be occurring
in the vertical polarization dimension. I don't have a directional
horizontal antenna to compare here.
Coinciding with this skewing to JA has been the almost complete absence of a
true northerly path over the pole into Asia, primarily zone 18. In other
solar cycles, the over-the-pole path has opened for at least one or two
seasons at the bottom of the cycle, but not this most recent cycle.
I might suspect there is some local source of skewing at my QTH that is
deflecting signals from the direct path heading, yet from time to time my
array does receive DX signals over the true short path to the northwest. In
particular, KL7's are sometimes received from the correct NNW heading on 160
and 80. For that reason, I tend to discount the possibility of locally
generated skewing.
73, John W1FV
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