[RTTY] Spotlight propagation

[Phil Cooper]

Hi all,

Well, just to add to this thread............
During CQWW RTTY on our Saturday evening, I was checking the higher bands
whilst working on 20m.
Firstly, on checking 15m at around 1900UTC (about an hour after sunset), I
found NP2/AK2P calling CQ eith a HUGE signal, and worked him easily.
A bit later on, I wanted to check 15 again, but managed to go to 10m
instead, and was more than surprised to hear some RTTY tones not far away
from where the rig ended up.
On tuning the signal in correctly, I saw it was HC8N, called them and worked
them first go.
That contact was logged at 1927UTC.
I'd love to know what type of propagation allowed me to work HC8N at this
time on 10m!

To echo Bill's story of working OH at midnight on 10m, some years ago, I had
installed a new soundcard, which - typically - took more time than
originally expected, and I wanted to make sure I had my AFSK settings
correct.
As it was by then around 11.30pm local, I decided that 10m was as good a
place as any to do some testing.
For this purpose, I used the G3PLX PSK31 program, as it is very good at
aiding the tuning process.
Once I had the settings pretty much OK, I was sending long strings of CQ,
just to do the fine tuning, and I happened to look at the screen and see a
response to my CQ from an LW9 station.
In the end, our QSO lasted some 30+ minutes, and only ended when he started
to seriously fade out.
What was even more interesting was that we were both using less than 5
watts.

73 all

Phil GU0SUP