Steve,
Nice to hear from you. Unfortunately for stations south of the equator this
annual event occurs during your summer when 160 conditions are less than
ideal, when limited hours of darkness restricts operation. Of course being
thousands of miles from population centers doesn't help you much either.
A 20 hour limit for this part of the world is simply too short. We expend
upwards of 150 manhours in station preparation each year. If a 20 hour
limit were imposed, we would need to reconsider whether the effort was worth
it for an operating period as short as you have proposed.
At our location we have roughly 14 - 15 hours of darkness in late January
and an hour less in February. For us a multi limit of 36 hours would be
ideal, we'd be in the position to work stations during all periods when
propagation is reasonably possible. Thirty hours is probably too limiting
given the fact that during periods before and after sunrise/sunset
conditions often support communications greater than 1000 Km. If the
multi-ops are given a 36 hour limit, it would also introduce an element of
operating "strategy" (e.g. time management) that currently doesn't exist.
In our view eliminating most daytime operation and introducing an additional
competitive element would both be positive developments.
Thank you for commenting. We hope others follow your lead.
73,
John W2GD
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