TopBand: 11 Oct Aurora conditions

[Bill Hohnstein]

. There was a strange mix of conditions early 11 Oct UTC on 160 due
to geomagnetic activity.  I was home just in time to listen to the
band around local sunset (0000z).  Several Europeans were reasonable
copy (549) with a low static level.  I called S51BO but he had a
hard time copying any stateside then.  Had a quick contact with
HB9ATA.  Signals were weak with limited flutter then.
  Due to reported geomagnetic activity I was thinking that this
might be all there is for the night.  But, around 0200 things started
picking up again.  At 0230 S51BO was the signal leader for the
night with 599 copy and little flutter.  RA6AX was copied from 0245
until 0320 with a 559 to 569 signal with little flutter.  OK1AWZ
also had limited flutter 0210 - 0230.  All of the other Europeans
heard had large amounts of flutter sometimes making copy difficult.
  0400 and after all Europeans were weak with flutter.  Worked
three but gave up by 0445 due to rising static levels as well.
Listenened on 1832 kHz after that and repeatedly heard both w7's
and Europeans calling CQ on the same frequency.  The better
receive antenna was not as clear, but the 43 degree Beverage was
generally better.  There was weak copy of Europe until 0600--it would
have been much better without the high static level.  Shut things off
for the night then...

73,  Bill     K0HA


 -
 ---
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions:              topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-topband@contesting.com