>From: "tombaugh" <tombaugh@discoverynet.com> (by way of Bill Tippett
>I have also heard that this
>may have been the worse year in history for top banders.
I don't think so. It has been the most QRN-free season I can remember, in
40+ years. Static has been almost not-existent here except for a few nights
when we had wx fronts actually moving thru the area. I can remember winters
past when QRN picked back up about xmas and stayed with us throughout Jan
and Feb. Other years, the summer QRN never went away.
Perhaps part of the reason for the quiet band is the lack of long haul
propagation to tropical regions, as the solar cycle is near its peak. The
same absorption that weakens the DX signals is also absorbing the static
crashes.
We can't count on having our cake and eating it too.
BTW I read in the news recently that condx in the Pacific suggest the
beginning of a new El Niño phenomenen. I recall in years past during those
periods the band stayed noisy all winter, while the west coast was pounded
with storms almost daily for weeks on end. If a new one is indeed in the
making, look out next season!
Don K4KYV
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