Some comments from Dan:
>Let me look at another aspect: Heard Island is
>very close to the southern auroral oval. In this respect it will probably
>experience propagation conditions similar to, say, Edmonton, Alberta (VE6).
>Maybe one of the VE6's can relate their propagation on top band, but poor is
>a pretty good adjective. That's the down side. As though who live next to
the >auroral oval well know, paths away from the aurora are the best.
>
Right the point! The aurora ring goes away sometimes though. During those very
short periods I had a qso with Dan KL7Y over the north pole. And that was
mid winter.
> Another problem is that
>the sun sets more slowly at higher latitudes. 8 hours between sunset and
>sunrise is not 8 hours of true darkness. Especially for the ionosphere.
>Maybe a VE6 could comment on how much "useable" 160 meter time they get
>during a summer night.
>
Yes, but we dont have summer "nights". During the some dim hours of summer
"nights" we have only short and usually only fair to poor openings directly to
south. The Heard is not so close the pole so I think they have a bit more
darkness.
> If the path
>between you and Heard Island passes through that southern auroral oval,
>you'd better be loud. Real loud.
And you might need the Gigawatt, but you can't hear the guys!
>A long path might be a better choice.
>Best days will be when the K index is 0 or 1. The closer your path gets to
>that aurora, the worse your chances are. The best times are probably going
>to be around your sunrise or sunset as long as Heard is well within
>darkness.
Good luck to us all & 73
Mika, OH8LAE, 65deg N
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