[Fourlanders] Tropo Band Opening Tonight

[Jim Worsham]

Boy, what a night!  It is 4 AM and things have finally settled down.  The
bands are still open but everyone is worked out for the night and gone to
bed.  I worked seven or eight new grids on 2 meters and three new grids on
432.  Here is the shocker.  Make sure you are sitting down.  I worked all of
the 432 contacts using CW.  Yes, very hard to believe but I had no choice.
For some reason the IF rig I have been using on 432 quit TXing in SSB mode.
CW works fine so I plugged in a key and went at it.  It was ugly but I
managed to complete all three contacts.  The opening was mostly to the west
into Texas but started shifting to the North later in the evening.  Strong
signal on the bands was K5QE.  He sounded like a local on both 2 meters and
432 all night.  The opening is still in progress as I am typing and seems to
be becoming more intense and widespread.  The bands should really be jumping
later in the morning so get on the air!!!!

 

73

Jim, W4KXY

 

It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart
you are.  If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.

Richard P. Feynman