[CQ-Contest] UPDATE: CQ WW DX SSB Midwest vs East Coast

[Jim Brown]

Exactly right, Scott. The farther west we are, the greater the length of 
the part of our path to EU that's through the auroral oval, which adds 
both attenuation and sometimes flutter. From near San Francisco, I do 
FAR better to AF than to EU. Stations in NM, AZ, and SoCal have a 
marginally better path than mine.

And, as others have noted, paths with reflections from water can be 
stronger than those over land.

And any meaningful analysis must be of large samples, to average out the 
randomness of propagation. I've used the RBN when there's little or no 
band activity to troubleshoot issues with my TX antennas. I did the 
study in 10-12 nights spread over several weeks, each night transmitting 
TEST K9YC into one antenna and TEST W6BX into the other, six times in 
sequence for each call, alternating between the two, then pausing for 
5-10 minutes, and repeating. I loaded reports from each reporting 
station into a spreadsheet, then tabulated and averaged the results for 
each, and sorting those averages by azimuth. All three antennas have 
some directivity by virtue of interaction with each other and my towers; 
I did separate A/B tests like this for these combinations. The results 
clearly confirmed results during contests -- two of those antennas are 
about 7 dB down from the third.

The problem is either the connections in the radial system for the 
tower, which acts as a passive reflector for the two antennas, or 
absorption by the dense redwoods that surround them. Can't do anything 
about the trees, but I'm working on the radial system.

73, Jim K9YC

On 11/11/2021 11:04 AM, K9MA wrote:
> The results of one contest really don't tell you anything. Propagation 
> is just too variable.
> 
> One of the biggest factors in DX contests is how close the path goes to 
> the magnetic pole. If you play around with Google Maps, which will plot 
> circle routes, you will see, for example, how that path between EU an NA 
> varies dramatically as you move the endpoints east-west, at the same 
> latitude. A station in NA 200 miles east of another usually has a huge 
> advantage on that path. I hear that all the time: a station 200 miles 
> east of me working Europeans I can't hear. For non-polar paths, I don't 
> think there is often a big difference due to longitude.