The World was on it's ear: I listened to N0AH in Wyoming working
Europe last night, and could hardly hear anything from here in
Central Ohio!
I worked OH1XX (579) at 0434Z, then called IV3PRK with a herd
to no avail at 0500Z (heard W3GH work him, but then Luis wasn't
hearing any of the rest of us). I then listened for spotted stations
until around 0800Z, hearing only bare peeps out of a few. I couldn't
even hear Wolf DF2PY!
The number of EU spots from the West (N0AH in WY, W7LR in
MT, N7JW in UT, K7CA in UT) and Wolf's report of definite skewing
suggest that the signals may have been skirting the aurora zone to
the South - does this make sense?
I suspect yesterday's flare and proton event is to blame. Does the
aurora image shown at http://sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html
have a clue? It shows that it covers the top tier of the USA (including
the East Coast and Ohio), but I haven't been following what it normally
looks like, and so have no sense of "baseline".
73,
Jeff Maass jmaass@columbus.rr.com Located near Columbus Ohio
USPSA # L-1192 NROI/CRO Amateur Radio K8ND
Maass' IPSC Resources Page: http://home.columbus.rr.com/jmaass
Circleville USPSA/IPSC: http://home.columbus.rr.com/jmaass/pcsiipsc.htm
> -----Original Message-----
> From: topband-admin@contesting.com
> [mailto:topband-admin@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Bill Tippett
> Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 5:51 AM
> To: topband@contesting.com
> Subject: Topband: remarkable night on 160 EU to Wyo
>
>
> Trying not to be a reflector junkie, but:
>
> Last night was remarkable on 160M listening to the signals coming
> out of EU.
> The first big signal was RA6AX at 04:39z.....first EU UA I ever
> heard from
> here in Wyoming. But after several tries, he didn't hear me
> although he was
> moving the meter up to 2 S units on a 1 S unit noise level with
> the 600 foot
> NE Beverage.
>
> At 0449, OH1XX was just as loud but we too had problems with a successful
> QSO. Another station stateside jumped in with my call to help (I
> hate that)
> but it didn't go well and I just QSY'd-
>
> Then, at 0522z, a SM7 was trying but no luck, QSB killed us- Then it got
> very interesting...
>
> At 0532, I found F8BPN, with her 100 watts out of a Inv L antenna, down
> around 1.819MHz punching through with a readable signal on the beverage
> moving the S meter to 2 units- Wow! She is only running 100watts......We
> worked first call-
>
> After a break, I come back and find OZ1DD 559 at 0638z, then
> DF2PY punching
> in with a 569 report at 0654z- PA0CLN is CQ'ing all alone and I
> worked him
> first call at 0648. All still with the beverage antenna used for
> listening-
>
> A few minutes later, EA3VY is loud but to no avail- He does work
> a W7 but not
> me- Loudest signal on the band the whole night but no luck- So
> I move on to
> find DK2FG CQ'ing- he's weak but again, first attempt is a
> success, and his
> original 339 is now 559 at around 07:14z.
>
> Sunrise moves across EU and I find ON4WW at around 0718.....same
> effect of
> his signal as with DK2GF.....QSB up and down 1-2 S units- but he peaks at
> 559....this was a thrill to work Mark because we had discussed a
> 160M sked a
> few months ago- and here he was out of the blue CQ'ing away- awesome-
>
> PA0LEZ and I try at 0740 but I don't think he got my
> call.......then I finish
> the night with a strong GW3TMP who peaks at 0749 with a 569 signal-
>
> My noise on the Inv L was around 3-6 S units- I didn't hardly
> hear anyone on
> the Inv L but the NE beverage was a killer. It typically makes a good
> difference in hearing, but tonight, it was huge-
>
> OZ, ON, and PA were all new ones for me on 160M.....In the 3
> years I've been
> serious about the band, (excluding the few worked years ago with
> a back yard
> HF2V while living in Denver), I've been able to work 76 countries
> and confirm
> 58, so I am not as deep into my DXCC count as many on this
> reflector. So
> what is remarkable to me might be chump change to others.....But
> to pick up 3
> new ones in one evening, all out of EU, from out here in Wyoming,
> was really
> was a lot of fun-
>
> On a side note,...F8BPN, being down on freq, had no QRM, and was a clear
> shot- I really want to thank all of you who worked to get the
> volunteer band
> plan into action.....it is allowing those of us jammed out of the
> DX window
> in the past to have some room to operate- It's the best thing to hit ham
> radio in a long time for me and it will be nice if and when the
> FCC will ever
> make it official-
>
> Equipment here is a Icom 756Pro, Inv L with 90 1/4 wave radials,
> up 75 feet
> then pulled out towards EU, and an assortment of beverages-
>
> 73 Paul N0AH
> Carpenter, Wyoming
>
> P.S. also just got some interesting news from F8BPN who emailed me to say
> conditions in France tonight had bad QRN S7-8 on her Inv L and
> that the east
> coast USA signals, the few that she heard, seemed equal to our's out west
> humm........interesting, but what does it all mean?
>
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