Hello again,
Thank you to all who have responded. I have had the opportunity read the
replies and think about the replies. We have some very smart people on this
reflector.
The difference in each of our perspectives of the "Long Path" seems different
based on our location in the USA. VK's "long path" is 200 in Dec/Jan while the
short path is about 250 degrees(not far apart) from the East Coast. I had
never thought about this situation being in Tucson. I can imagine there are
some strange paths going on. Here in Tucson the only thing that is similar
that I have seen is JT1CO. At sunrise he comes in equally strong from the
"short path"(NW) and the "long path"(SW). There is no trace of him from
directly West. I never know what direction to transmit but both work well with
him.
My main sunrise propagation is via "long path" into Eastern Europe and the
Indian Ocean(OH, SM A6, VQ9, etc). I use 3 Beverages for this, 180, 200 and
215 degrees. About 1 hour before sunrise I do best with 180 degrees looking
toward the gray line at a slight angle. At +- 30 minutes or so of sunrise I do
best with the 200 degree Beverage looking right down the gray line. After the
sunrise about 30 minutes I do best with the 215 degree Beverage looking out at
the gray line through daylight.
Sometimes(about 30% of the time) at my sunrise I notice that the NW USA
stations(they are further West than me) hear the LP much better than I do and I
hear them saying that they are aiming their antennas further out to the Pacific
than normal. When I see this happening, my 215 degree Beverage is always best
even though it is on MY sunrise. The signals are leaving the gray line and
passing through more darkness at these times(I think)(I don't know why).
Ken Brown asked a good question about antenna directivity. I have no
Helicopter but I do believe in the science of EZNEC. My observations of the
directivity of my 12 Beverages seem very close to what EZNEC shows. EZNEC
shows that a nice long Beverage has an azimuth and elevation pattern about
twice as narrow as a 3 element NBS yagi. Without a Helicopter I "feel" that
these Beverage antennas are very "Laser like" in reception. I have a 5 element
beam on 20 meters and these Beverages are much sharper than it is(and it is
good).
My transmit antenna is a 4-square and has very poor directivity(about 45 degree
+- per direction). It still offers some help now and then in direction
finding(it never hears well compared to the Beverages).
The bent(skewed) path as seen here in Tucson when working Europe(35 degrees
from Tucson short path) changes to 90 degrees for Europe during "bent path"
times. I believe that this is caused by skirting the Auroral Oval at these
times(not a problem on the East Coast). We can still work Europe without too
much attenuation but we must aim East(90 degrees). There is almost nothing
coming from the usual 35 degree. During these times I hear the NW USA stations
say that they are aiming South West(over South America). I think they are
picking up on the 90 degree propagation I am seeing down here in Tucson.
I enjoyed hearing that stations in the East can work LA during the summer. We
can barely work them in the winter. We do have great propagation to eastern
Asia(JA, YB, VK, HL, etc.) and can work them all summer with strong signals.
I wonder where the best place on earth is for Ham Radio? I guess it depends on
whether we want to do it the "easy way", the "hard way" or the "contest way".
Best regards,
Don, w7dd
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