While the recent CQ 160 Meter SSB test had few highlights (other than
re-emphasizing why we should retain CW proficiency on HF), there was one
interesting sidebar. At several different times the first night and one
short period on the second, I could distinctly hear a long delayed echo on
my signal. The dwell was such that the entire word "CONTEST" was faithfully
repeated. I made a rough estimate of the time involved and found it to be
approximately just over a half second. This implies a round trip distance
of about 100,000 miles. This is roughly the same as other times I have
heard this phenomenan. I heard the echo on a couple of other signals, but
only briefly before the QRM closed again. It is kind of fun to have
something else to amuse oneself when the CQs go unanswered.
The lower 48 QRM levels in the contest must have been pretty high. I hardly
worked anybody who was not an S5 or better. As an example, W2GD hovered
around S4 to S5 for hours, but never heard me. OTOH, I heard WA2IZL briefly
go to S6 and snagged him right away. VE3EJ was another who I heard most of
the contest, but he never peaked over S5 and never heard me. There was a
rash of stations like AA4NU, WB9Z, W5JAY, W9LT, NX0I, AA4S, etc., who were
unworkable until they suddenly broke that S5 barrier, then they answered
quickly. I would say I heard hundreds of stations between S1 and S5 that I
never stood a chance of working. Even some DX like HK, CO, V4, TG, FM, etc.
ON CW MOST OF THESE WOULD HAVE BEEN WORKED! But the wideband SSB just
doesn't leave many holes in the QRM continuum. A perfect example of why we
need to retain CW proficiency on HF.
Dan KL7Y
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