Walter Miller wrote:
>
> Today (Wednesday 20 Nov) XZ1N was Q5 on 160m for about 20 minutes,
> starting just after my local sunrise at about 1455. No copy prior to
> sunrise, although other west coast stations were already calling. Signals
> built quickly and stayed solid with little or no QSB until fading out
> about 1515. There was a big pileup of W6/W7 stations calling, but
> absolutlely no one got through. XZ1N called CQ into the pileup for most
> of that time, apparently hearing nothing of the din. Finally XZ1N called
> QRZ a few times (once even "QRZ 6T" I thought....probably heard Garry,
> NI6T, who was also in the pile), but never picked out any callsigns. Very
> frustrating.
Very! Walt's account is characteristically accurate--I can add a few
details. Prior to the sunrise appearance, some west coast ops were
calling RX1OX/FJL on 1828--I only heard a short burst from that station.
At some point, some of those ops started calling XZ1N---but it is
impossible to know when that crossover took place since, in the great
tradition of lowband DXing, nobody sent the DX station's callsign.
Like Walt, who lives across town, I heard snatches of XZ1N right at
sunrise, but he then literally rocketed to Q5 and stayed there. I think
I copied a bit longer than Walt--at least 25 minutes. KA6W reported an
honest S4 on his FT1000 and loop. I understand Lloyd, W6AJJ heard them
at their sunset-1100Z--and that they were LOUDER then, but still worked
no one.
It was extremely unnerving that XZ1N could not hear. Actually, he did
work one station---SP6CT! There were a number of 500# gorillas in that
pileup--N7UA, N6FF (FKA KL7H/W6), K6RK, W6AJJ, KA6W among them. if THEY
could not make it, there was no hope for third-line stations like Walt's
and mine. Given the similar condx on 80 the day before--a good sig and
no QSO's, I was not surprised by this morning, but I sure as hell was
disappointed.
I relayed some of this info to Jack, WA7LNW, who was the RTTY operator
at XZ1N during the 20m session early this evening. Jack said
Tom--presumably N6BT--will be QRV this morning and that they are
addressing the problem. N7RK's message cited a strong "carrier" across
the band, which is something of a contradiction, but their success in
working Europe indicates either a directionality to the interference (to
our detriment) or that the successful Euros are marginally louder than
the QRM.
Garry Shapiro, NI6T
Editor, The DXer
newsletter of the Northern California DX Club
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