Jim (ZL2JR),
Nice to work you from W3LPL during the ARRL Phone DX contest this past
weekend. Heard you best on the SOUTH Beverage and the SOUTH transmit
antennas....equally difficult on both. I heard nothing from you on the
SW Beverage or the SW (4-Square) transmit antennas.
Conditions were really down. Only worked 47 countries on the Top Band.
On Saturday morning, C21SX was heard on CW just before sunrise and VK6HD,
also on CW was heard up to 20 minutes after our sunrise. But not a single
VK on SSB made it into the W3LPL log. I did manage to snag T30R and two
stations in KH6 land but that was the extend of our Pacific DX. The only
African station worked was ZS5K. Although a number 100 watters from Europe
made it into the log, the European activity was very low compared to past
contests, with many of regulars missing. QRN on the U.S. east coast was
quite high in the early UTC hours of Saturday. I wonder if the low
European activity on the Top Band was due to high noise levels or just
poor conditions. The climbing 'K' index Sunday sure didn't help things on
this end. I wonder what others have to say about overall conditions during
the ARRL Phone DX weekend.
73 de Rich - K1HTV
ps - Tnx for the new one with QRP from the home QTH.
--
Richard Zwirko (VOA/BBOM) - K1HTV Voice of America
Wilbur J. Cohen Building, Room 2165 Technical Support
Washington, DC 20547 Broadcast Operations Div.
dz@VOA.GOV
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