On 10 Feb around 1400Z I began hearing a long delayed echo on my 160
meter signal. The echo was extremely variable in strength, it went from
non-existent to quite loud in just a second or two. The band seemed
quite good right then. I could easily hear my own backscatter signal on
all antennas. Both N7JW and N7DD were well over S9, the loudest JAs
were in the S9 range and UA0MF was a 589-599. The VK9 was conspiciously
absent. By tweaking the keyer speed and counting bauds, I came up with a
rough estimate of the delay at 0.4 sec. This corresponds to about
75,000 miles. The LDE delay seemed a little shorter than others I've
heard. The effect lasted about 10 minutes at most. While the mechanism
for this echo has been pretty well explained, it is still quite a thrill
to hear. Now if I could just figure out how to get that distance
multiplier into the Stew Perry TBDXC....
Dan KL7Y
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-topband@contesting.com
|