Topband
[Top] [All Lists]

TopBand: Thailand

To: <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: TopBand: Thailand
From: btippett@CTC.Net (Bill Tippett)
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 07:10:43 -0400 (EDT)
Hello Nodir!

        Nice to hear from you and I hope you are enjoying VK-land.
FB on your visit to HS!  Based on operations by S21XX, XZ1N and VU4GDG
in the Andamans, I think you will observe the following on 160:

        At your sunset (1047 UTC), look for short path NE openings to North
America.  Most likely are openings to USA West Coast but also extending
even to the East Coast.  During the CQ WW SSB in 1985, VU4GDG worked as
far east as Alabama just after his sunset and including W9, W0 and W7.
The opening was very strong starting at his sunset but faded out about 30
minutes after his sunset.  There is also a long path opening at your
sunset to the East Coast but I have only seen this on 80 meters.  It is
probably possible on 160, but I have just not observed it myself (yet).  It
is quite common on 80 however, and the bearing from HS is at about 150 degrees.

        Before your sunrise (2325 UTC), you will most likely be working NW
into Europe.  When your sunrise approaches, begin to listen for USA East
Coast.  There are two types of openings...one is a skewed path over Europe
to Northeast USA (W1 and maybe W2)...the other is long path (about 210
degrees from Thailand) covering the entire East Coast (W1-W4, W8, etc).
The latter is somewhat rare but I have seen it frequently since moving to
W4-land.  

        If you have a chance to put up Beverages, I would recommend the
following:

        30 degrees for sunset openings to Western North America.
        150 degrees for sunset openings to East/Midwest NA via long path.
        320 degrees for sunrise openings to Europe and skew to NE NA.
        210 degrees for sunrise openings to Eastern NA via long path.

        I am posting this to the reflector since it may be of interest to
others going to SE Asia in the future (Spratly, etc.)  In general, I think
the propagation to SE Asia is much more common than we realize, but it 
requires knowledgeable operators at each end of the path, operating at the
right time of day and listening in the right directions.  Hopefully this
may be of interest to others.

                                                73,  Bill  W4ZV

P.S.  I still remember the thrill of working you from YA5MM on 80 meter
long path at my sunrise in Colorado!

 -
 ---
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions:              topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-topband@contesting.com

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>