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Re: [CQ-Contest] I need a cloudwarmer!

To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] I need a cloudwarmer!
From: Robert Chudek - K0RC <k0rc@citlink.net>
Reply-to: k0rc@citlink.net
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 21:26:44 -0600
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
/"Band open to CA from NM, but you need the IA station you can't hear. Both of you should point west for best copy."/

I find this true, especially trying to work ND and SD, the next states west of MN. At least 95% of the time their signal is stronger if I 'bounce' my signal off the electronic curtain to the east of me. The signals usually drop into the noise if I turn my beam west, in their direction. The other 5% of the time, the signal might be the same strength, but the ambient noise floor comes up when pointing to the west, making the copy more difficult. Both of these states have been WAS hold-outs on 15 and 20 meters for me, although I logged 3 out of 4 needs this past weekend.

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN

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On 11/19/2013 4:10 PM, Barry wrote:
In my empiric experience, backscatter, like any scatter, works best with power and high antennas pointed in the direction that the band is open.

For example, how do you work EU on 10m when the band is closed to EU, but open to AF? Point your antenna at AF.

Band open to CA from NM, but you need the IA station you can't hear. Both of you should point west for best copy.

Barry W2UP

On 11/19/2013 13:48, Steve London wrote:
Related to this topic are these questions...

What does it take to have a big backscatter signal on the high bands ? Azimuth diversity (i.e. multiple antennas pointing in different directions) ? Take-off angle diversity ? Is the optimum take-off angle for backscatter the same as the optimum take-off angle for 1-hop, non-backscatter ? I don't think I have ever seen empirical studies or models that address this.

I ask these questions, as it comes right on the heels of my SS Phone effort. For a number of reasons, I did single-10. I know, no such category in SS. It was fun and made for a lively Sunday. About 1160 QSO's and 80 mults. Missed IA, NE, OK - all in that backscatter range from here in NM.

73,
Steve, N2IC

On 11/19/2013 10:15 AM, Tim Shoppa wrote:
Hans, I feel in the same situation on the high bands at least. I can work CA over and over again on 10M but what's the fun in that? On sweeps this isn't a great loss because it's once per contest, but in a once per band
contest like NAQP I end up with decidedly few multipliers on 10M.

I built some low dipoles and vees, which according the models had more high angle radiation. But in actual tests, I find they are uniformly down 6-10dB
no matter what the distance compared to my high wire.

I think the only solution to picking up more mults on the high bands is
more gain, but that comes with the cost of narrower beamwidth. I have heard
some of the top-notch midwest contest stations in domestic tests: They
either have multiple transmit antennas, or some kind of easily switchable array, because I hear them cycling through directions on each CQ and then when I call them they go "loud" in my direction. I do something similar but receive-only with my K9AY loop in a 160 test, because I use foot-switches to pick the direction, and the nulls are so deep that when I'm listening SE that a loud New England station just isn't there, that I routinely cycle
direction after each CQ.

Tim N3QE.
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