TopBand: Excerpts Heard Messages 46-49

Bill Tippett btippett@CTC.Net
Sun, 12 Jan 1997 21:33:02 GMT


BEAM DIRECTIONS.
----------------
Whereas it seems very likely that on the low bands the 
paths can be skewed (all Low Band Dx-ers encounter this
phenomenon almost dayly), Bob, NM7N, states that skewed
(crooked) paths are very unlikely on 20 m (Bob had 60 
QSO's with Crozet (400 miles from the antipode) with 
only one occurence of a skewed path.

In Europe we have the daily experience with skewed paths 
on 40, 80 and 160 m to ZL on the long path (500 miles 
from the antipode). Across an entire season the direction 
from which signals arrive shifts from S.W. (true long 
path great circle heading), across Central America 
around equinox to 300 degrees during European winter time
(this is 90 degrees off the true great circle longth 
path heading). 

REPORT FROM THE ISLAND
----------------------
At 16:40 on Sunday, Jan 12th, Peter called ON4UN by Inmarsat
satellite telephone from Heard island and reported the 
following:

- landing started at 22:30 z (0330 local time) on Saturday
  night (GMT), which means their Sunday morning at day break.
- All operators and all equipment (30 Tons of it) were put 
  ashore by helicopter. It took 51 helicopter flights back
  and forth (5 hours) !
- All material was safely put ashore, no damage has been 
  reported.
- The base camp has been completed.
- The NCDXF beacon station was put on the air at 11:30 GMT
  (first reports were received from Italy on 10m at 11:45)
- The NCDXF beacon will be switched off tonight at 17:00z,
  until Monday morning 13:00z. The entire crew is very tired
  and wants a good and long night rest.
- The PACSAT communication link with the pilot stations 
  should be operational some time on Monday (13th).
- WX during landing: wind: 30 knots, temp + 5deg C
- team spirit: very high, they are having the time of their
  life!
- The ground in the camp area is solid rock, so all
  anchoring was done using drills and expansion bolts. 
- Three generators have been operating during the day.
- They will probably start the radio operations early 
  Tuesday (14th).
- They will call ON4UN by Inmarsat telephone a few hours 
  before the radio operations start. John will post the 
  starting time immediately on the e-mail reflector
- Priority will be given to Satellite operation, as their
  are propagation possibilities into the USA only during
  the first part of the expedition. I will publsih details
  from Arie as soon as received.
- The three radio tents are separated by approx 300 m. 
  Peter thinks it will be possible to run with two 
  stations on one and the same band. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*      H E A R D   I S L A N D   D X - P E D I T I O N    *
*             PILOT PROGRAM   MESSAGE # 48                *
*            THE LOW BANDS FROM HEARD ISLAND              *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Figures
-----------
Let's look at sunrise and sunset times:

Heard Island (average for Jan 20): SR = 23:20z  SS = 15:16z

For some of us it is important, however to know that between 
Jan. 15 and Feb. 5th, sunset changes from 15:21 to 14:56  
and sunrise from 23:11 to 23:45 (that is a change of 35 
minutes in just over 2 weeks!). We will see later where it 
is so important.

EUROPE: 
-------
Most of Europe will have both 80 and 160 open all night 
long, that is from approx. 15:15 to 23:20. 

Expected peaks: 18:00  and 22:00   

Eighty meters should be a piece of cake from Europe. Based 
on predictions and past experience 160 should be very 
feasible, in view of the antennas and power used on the 
island.

JAPAN:
------
sunrise: 21:55, sunset: 07:50
opening: 15:00 - 22:00 
peak time: 18:30, 23:00
A piece of cake on both bands.

NORTH AMERICA:
--------------
A toughie, at le4ast for parts of the continent.

The table below was set-up using the average sunrise/sunset 
times (Jan. 22). It is clear that the Eastern part of the US 
will have a shot at Heard at and after sunset in the 
US(East).

Area      sunrise/sunset opening       peak (#)
----      -------------  -------       ----
VE1(N.B.)   12:00/21:10  21:10-23:20   22:15

NY city     12:20/21:55  21:55-23:20   22:40

Wash DC     12:30/22:10  22:10-23:20   22:15

Fla         12:50/23:10  23:10-23:20   23:15

Chicago     13:20/22:45  22:45-23:20   23:00

TX(Houst)   13:20/23:44        23:30   23:30

(#): peak times based upon assumption that the path will 
peak half way in-between sunset in the US and sunrise on 
Heard. The peak may also occur at Heard sunrise (23:11 on 
Jan 15 and 23:45 on Feb. 5th).


If we look at the Western and Western Mid-West states, we 
must however differentiate between the beginning of the 
operation (Jan. 15th and the end of the operation(Feb. 5th).

Area date  sunrise/sunset  peak     other path
---- ----  --------------  ----     ----------
KS   Jan 15 13:41/23:15    23:15   
     Feb 5  13:26/23:39    23:40

N.D. Jan 15 14:29/23:16    23:16    14:30  (80m)
     Feb 5  14:07/23:47    23:47    14:10  (80m)

Co   Jan 15 14:24/23:55    23:45    14:50  (80m)
     Feb 5  14:09/00:19    00:10    14:20  (80m)

Ida  Jan 15 15:20/00:28    15:20
     Feb 5  15:01/00:56    15:00

Mont Jan 15 14:57/23:50    15:00    23:30  (80m)
     Feb 5  14:36/00:20    14:40    23:15  (80m)

Wyo  Jan 15 14:38/23:51    14:50    23:40  (80m)
     Feb 5  14:20/00:18    14:30    00:10  (80m)

Wa   Jan 15 15:59/00:39    15:45
     Feb 5  15:36/01:11    15:25

VE7  Jan 15 16:09/00:36    15:55      
     Feb 5  15:44/01:10    15:30

Ore  Jan 15 15:53/01:03    15:45
     Feb 5  15:32/01:18    15:20 (*)

Sacramento
Cal  Jan 15 15:28/01:03    15:25
     Feb 5  15:13/01:27    15:05 (*)

San Francisco
Cal  Jan 15 15:29/01:10    15:25
     Feb 5  15:14/01:33    15:10 (*)

Los Angeles
Cal  Jan 15 14:42/01:23    14:50 (very difficult on 160)
     Feb 5  14:36/01:38    14:40 (*)

San Diego
Cal  Jan 15 14:55/01:01    14:55
     Feb 5  14:45/01:25    14:48 (*)


Peak propagation times have been computed taking into 
account that the sun rises much slower on Heard (53 deg 
latitude) than in the USA. Heard will enjoy grey-line 
propagation after sun-rise much longer than especially in 
the Southern States (e.g. Southern California).

Long path openings from Wyoming and Montana may be possible 
on 80, but are very unlikely on 160, because there is too 
much daylight in the path.

The most difficult propagation is likely to be between Heard 
and the Southern part of California. The path is slightly 
better towards the end of the expedition (*).

Be aware that the signals may not come true path headings. 
The closer to the antipode, the more this is true. 
Propagation follows the paths of least attenuation. This 
means that signals will tend to stay in the Northern 
hemisphere (where it is winter) as long as possible. Another 
mechanism that can cause path to be "odd" is the aurora 
mechanism. The message is "watch out, and switch your 
Beverages around". Also, when you are close to the antipode, 
you may gain by listening omnidirectionally, whereby you can 
obtain full advantage of antipodal focussing. 

Another Problem
---------------
Another major problem is that the band will peak on 80 and 
160, at the same time for Japan, Europe and North America.

The 21:00 - 23:45 time frame is the North America window. 
The H.I. guys will call CQ NA, at least every few minutes. 
If nothing heard they will probably work Europe. BUT EUROPE, 
PLEASE DO NOT CALL, WHEN THEY CALL CQ NA.

This is true for 80 and even much more for 160m. European 
stations that you are heard by the guys calling them after a 
CQ NA, should certainly not expect a favorite treatment from 
the H.I. guys who are stretching their ears to copy North 
America. Please Europe, let's show that we can behave in a 
civilized way. 

In order to avoid QRM from Europe, the H.I. guys may QSX 
1.805.1.810, which is a frequency where most Europeans cannot 
transmit. Listen for their announced QSX frequency. On 80 
meters they will listen above 3.805 Mhz, in order to avoid 
European and JA-QRM.

Making QSO's on 160
-------------------

We have agreed that they would use "QRZ" as an invitation 
to start calling. 

A typical exchange would be:

CQ DE VK0IR QSX 5 (or UP 5/8)
pile up (we hope)
W6ZZZ W6ZZZ 559 559 W6ZZZ W6ZZZ KN
W6ZZ GIVES REPORT
W6ZZZ QSL QRZ (VK0IR)

DO NOT tail-end. DO NOT call when they are working another
station. Listen for instructions, and live by them. 
Listen for the QRZ to start transmitting.

In the exhange with the report they will as a rule give the
other station's call 4 times. 

Once they have a call partly they will do the exchange as
follows:

W6Z? W6Z? 449 449 W6Z? W6Z? KN KN
They will stick to the W6Z.. call and will not pick up another
possibly stronger station! So, stand by until that QSO has
been made, or until VK0IR goes "QRZ".

The operators
-------------
Don't forget there are some eminent low band DX-ers in the 
crew, K4UEE, W0GJ -ex WA0PUJ- K0IR, RA3AUU, ON6TT and ON5NT 
to name the most experienced ones. These guys know how to do 
it. They know that the low bands is a MUST for them. They 
won't make pile-ups on 10, I think. In this DX-pedition the 
low bands are not third choice which means operation is 
postponed until the last few days. The low bands will get 
their 100% attention, right from the start. Bravo!

Remember ZS8IR has been worked on the low bands from all 
over, and he has only 200 Watts, and a Battle Creek special. 
Now on Heard they have a little (?) more power and 4-squares 
for the low bands, and Beverages...

The 160m beacon
---------------
Throughout  the whole operation (from just before sunset to 
just after sunrise on Heard Island), whenever they are not 
running on 160, the Heard Island DX-pedition will run a 
topband beacon on 1,826.5 KHz. It will sign "V V V V V V V V 
V DE VK0IR VK0IR VK0IR " . The beacon will run with full 
legal power on a monoband top-loaded vertical.
Check this frequency during times of possible propagation 
(likely when the DX-pedition  will be operating on 80 or 
maybe 40m). Whenever the beacon signal is heard with a 
comfortable signal, the low band freaks are asked to come 
down (to 80 or 40m) and to inform the operation of the band 
opening. If possible, they will QSY immediately. 

SWL reports on this beacon with all details are to be sent 
to the pilots. 

Deliberate Jamming
------------------
As evidenced during their operation from TO0R, we must 
likely expect some deliberate jamming sessions. To try to
avoid carriers, VK0IR may shift its transmitting frequency
up and down a few hundred Hz (200, 300 Hz) when the rate 
goes down on CW. This applies to 160 and 80 meters CW. 
They may even try an alternative transmitting frequency 
which would be 1822.5 KHz on 160 m.

73

Your pilots: ON4UN, N1DG, W0EK, K0EU, W4WW, W2IJ, JH1ROJ


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