TopBand: vk0ir

[K1ZM@aol.com]

Hi John

I have been away at Cape Cod last three evenings with no access to
internet/email.

I think much of this is old news except for last night 20 Jan at sunset.

17Jan - 160M

Fair opening - sigs not as strong as day 1

VK0IR hearing well - but most USA callers not copying him well as most did
not reply properly when sent an RST.

Apparent good qso's made with k2ek,w9nga,k2wk,k3ans,w3bgn, and va3aj

Partials (VK0IR sent rst - usa station did NOT reply)
wt3q,w2vo,wb2p,w2okm
(I see later from bulletins that the op logged most of the partials - Hmmm
 it was marginal at best - but I wasnt there!)

18 JANUARY - 160m

Sigs way down tonight - but did hang in there until almost 2345z

Only a handful of N America would have made it through tonight.

Possibles with W1ZC, Ve1PZ,K1MEM,K1uo, VE1yx, Ve9AA and a very late k8mfo.

 listened to a ve1zz tape made at 2345z and vk0ir was 589 at ve1zz.  he was
339 on cape cod at 2345z!  Simply amazing! Both sides of the k8mfo qso were
solid on the tape - congrats to Don on a fine job of hanging in there until
the bitter end for a qso!

19 January - 160m

Best 160m night to N america so far!

Sigs from vk0ir 579 on cape cod at 2131z when he was running Ja in Ja window.

i heard w2okm call on 1909Khz and get in the log!

This alerted op to qsx 1831.5 for usa.

This started a 2 hour giant pileup of N american callers that at one point
(2255z) stretched from 1827.5 - 1834Khz.

it was SO DEEP that I could not find who the vk0ir came back to.

I believe they may have logged 50-65 USA stations in this period.

Stations on the margins I heard get a good qso were k8cx in Ohio, w9zr in
ohio, kg4w in va, w4zv at 2332 in ncar (congrats to Bill) - his was solid
after 3 repeats!
 w4mya in va, ve3ej,ve3fas,ve3rm,

I think I heard wb9z make a qso but i heard only the vk0 side of this one and
i may have mis copied the call.  But I think it was wb9z who was calling in
there at the time.

Most notable was a spot at 2300z from a kl7 who said he was copying vk0ir
weakly at the time in Alaska.  Did u see it on the oh2bua cluster?  I thought
that was pretty exciting!

There were 30-40 other calls I partially copied, so I expect that they logged
over 50 stations in this session.

Some guys kept on calling after they made  good qso's!  Why?  

This was a darned good opening - I was still copying them around 2350z and
then they were gone!

20 January - 160M

Way way down compared to day before.

VK0IR showed late around 2235z on 26.5.  I spotted him and vy vy few usa
could hear him.  Few called - only qso I heard was what I think was a good
one with N1RR around 2300z.


20 Jan 80-M

I worked them on both 80cw and 75ssb tonight.  they had a great sig both
modes and it was easy.  this time they could hear as well as xmit.

am still chasing them on 15 and 17M.

Again, I know it has already been said.  But, this expedition is FIRST CLASS-
really a superlative job by all concerned!

Pse pass along some words of encouragement to the boys.  They are
magnificent!  They have outdone themselves on this one!

And let's hope there are some more good days on 160M still to come - I know
there are LOTS of guys who still need them on the margins.

73 jeff K1ZM@aol.com

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