[SECC] 3Y0X

[Bill Coleman]

On Feb 13, 2006, at 11:10 AM, Macie, Gordon wrote:

> I could barely copy them on 15 ssb for about 1 - 2 hours mid  
> afternoon.
> I could hear them on 17 barely at times but running 100w it was
> hopeless. I couldn't hear them on 20. I could hear them very well  
> on 30
> and 40 and called them what seemed like 1000's of times with no  
> luck.. I
> am curious ,

I've managed to work them on 20, 17 and 15 Phone, 40, 30, 20 and 15 CW.

The 20 and 15 Phone contacts were the easiest, partly because I have  
the tribander. On 15m he was just barely above the noise, but worked  
him directly.

You'd think that 30m would have been the hardest with 100 watts and  
the inverted V. No. 40m CW has been the hardest so far. It took  
several days effort to snag that one, even with the rotatable dipole  
and 600 watts out. I finally got up at 5:30 am this morning and  
managed to punch through after 25 minutes of calling.

I think 30m may be your best bet. Here's why -- no one can legally  
run more than 200 watts, most guys don't have gain antennas on the  
band, and propagation to 3Y seems to be open practically 24 hours.

> I
> hope to make another effort next weekend. I hope they will be on thru
> next weekend.

You need to try every day. Don't wait until the weekends. Get on  
DXWatch, or DX Summit and found out where they are. Listen and pick  
apart the pileup. Call.

This weekend is the ARRL CW contest. The CW bands will be packed.  
You're better off trying a little bit each day.

> My one contact was about 2 hours pass the cutoff for the last qso's  
> they
> uploaded.

They uploaded today, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
             -- Wilbur Wright, 1901