> Many times the band peaks far off sunrise or sunset, and goes
> downhill. Never wait or depend on the sunrise/sunset peak!
>
> For example, there are many days when the path to VK peaks
> neither at their sunset or my sunrise. The same is true for JA's and
> everywhere else where the path is over a few thousand km.
I stayed up until 2:30 AM local on Friday waiting for the ZL
and VK sunset peak, which apparently never happened, even though
on 75 meters, VK3DZM was booming in. I overslept and didn't
get back on until 6:48 AM local. I was able to work a bunch of JA's
right up to sunrise at 7:15 local. On Sunday, I got up at 5:00 AM
local and worked a bunch of JA's until 6:00 AM local when the band
apparently went dead (or the JA's all went to bed :-) I also worked
a ZL at 5:51 AM local time, which as Tom says, is neither my sunrise
nor his sunset.
> "One way propagation" is especially likely to occur in contests
> because of QRM and the fact operators are listening in multiple
> directions and may miss calls. It is tough enough to tune the
> receiver up and down a bit in frequency and check all directions
> and antennas on normal days, let alone during a contest!
When I am working JA's in the morning, I am listening on my
NW beverage, so nearly everyone stateside is off the back or
side, and nearly inaudible. I also have to check the SW bev
for ZL, so I am very busy. Some US stations calling me probably
wondered why I was having trouble copying them; I was trying
to find the right beverage. Or switch to the vertical.
The guys operating from "foreign"
call districts are really tricky because I think I know what
direction they are and then switch to that beverage and can't
copy. I'm going to improve my antenna switching setup so I
can switch faster. I should also mention that there were often
JA's calling me who were too weak to copy even on the beverage so
they probably thought there was 1 way propagation.
Rick N6RK
> 73, Tom W8JI
> W8JI@contesting.com
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