I had an interesting experience on Sunday morning. 20 meters had opened up
much better (around
11 AM local time) then it had been all weekend. I could finally hear some
northern EU stations other than the EA , I's and the big gun multis ( S5's ,
HG1S etc) that I had been working all weekend.... At this point I had not even
worked DL on any band ! (Believe it or not I never worked a DL or G on 40 at
all). Not a peep from that part of EU.
Anyway, I'm tuning 20 meters and I come across Brian, NA4BW, operating from
K4SSU. He was operating split listening down at 14115. I listened to him for
awhile and I could hear just about every EU station calling him. I remember us
doing this at NQ4I before as well with pretty good success. I continue tuning
and believe it or not 14154 is perfectly clear so I try a CQ using the same
technique Brian was using. To my amazement I started a EU run using just my
center fed zepp running 600 watts. The fun lasted only lasted about 1/2 hour
before K1LZ moved in on my transmit frequency. No way I was going to battle
with him and I moved on. It was fun when it lasted and I worked several QRP
stations in EU that probably would not have been heard thru the crud above
14150.
I am thinking about maybe putting up some directional type wire antenna for 20
meters pointed at EU before WPX SSB. The zepp works good because it has some
directional characteristics on 20 meters. I think it has a clover leaf pattern
on 20 meters since it is 130 feet long. It oriented E-W at the ends so it would
have a lobe towards EU. Unfortunately , I can't put up a tower and beam at my
current QTH. I was thinking about maybe a fixed quad or delta loop. Anyone have
any suggestions ? My highest trees are at about 50 ft.
73, Jeff KU8E
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