Jon, you're only about 300 miles NE of me, and things weren't that
good here. I did hear KH2/N2NL via the LP here, but he was tough copy
with deep QSB. I kept switching between north and south, but he was
consistently stronger from the south. I did work VK3IO, but he was not
great copy and, again, QSB was deep.
I briefly heard XU7ACY via SP, but it was only for a short period. I
continued to listen for quite some time, but he never became copyable.
OTOH, there were many calling and working him from the NE and SE.
Similarly, I briefly heard DU1IST, but not a peep from BU2AQ or DU1/JJ5GMJ.
OTOH, the signals from Europe around 0400-0600Z were the loudest I've
heard all season. There were many real S8 sigs, especially from
DL-land. OM2XW was a real S9 here at times, and the band sounded like
20M until about 0600Z.
Let's hope that the weekend brings more Asian activity during these good
conditions. Now, I have a good reason to stay up all night on Saturday.
:-)
73, Joe
K2XX
On 12/30/2011 8:08 AM, Jon Zaimes AA1K wrote:
> The December Doldrums are officially over.
>
> For the second day we had good long path/skewed path conditions in the
> pre-dawn hours.
>
> This morning's excitement started with VK3IO (579) calling in at 1018z
> and VK3ZL (599!) at 1037z. Often when the VK's are this loud it's a sign
> the band will be poor to the tougher paths in Asia and the Pacific, so I
> didn't get my hopes up.
>
> But then KH2/N2NL came through nicely on the direct path at 1100z.
>
> And a few minutes later, Hiro, DU1/JJ5GMJ, showed up on 1811.5 and was
> being heard in New England. And I could copy him here in Delaware! DU
> has been a long, hard chase for me, having heard my first (a US station
> portable there) around 1980 when I was in Connecticut. I heard a few
> others over the years, including a 5-year pursuit of DU9/N0NM, who I
> heard many, many times with no QSO. And I've heard DU1IST both in our
> morning and LP in the evening the past two years.
>
> But unlike some of the others, Hiro manages to hear stations quite well.
> And his 300 watts and inverted L put out a good signal. I was fortunate
> to get him in the log at 1110z (no. 314) and numerous others also had
> success. Thanks Hiro for your persistence!
>
> About this time BU2AQ also started coming through, peaking due south
> though later shifting sometimes to SSW. I was copying him up till 1200z.
> No prize for me today but Allison did work several East Coast stations.
>
> DU1IST also started CQ'ing, and while his signal was stronger than
> Hiro's, he has difficulty hearing and no QSO's were observed though he
> had many callers from the USA East Coast.
>
> Peter, XU7ACY, has had a strong signal here on the long path the past
> two days, and he gave many a new one today.
>
> Ross, 9M2AX, also was coming through again today but had some trouble
> with local thunderstorms there.
>
> In other years with these long and skewed path openings, as sunrise
> approached the Asian signals often would shift around to the short path.
> But that hasn't happened this week.
>
> 73/Jon AA1K
> Felton, Delaware
> www.aa1k.us
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
>
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