TopBand: Nebraska RF Port/Report

[Bill Hohnstein]

19 Oct was another excellent 160 Day!  At 0203z my first
indication appeared--RK3PA.  Mir was right around the noise level.
He CQed with no response heard until 0224.  His CQ then was 569
so I called him.  His signal was like most for the night.  He
would be 20+ dB stronger than the noise then slowly fade until
I couldn't hear him transmitting.  His signal peaked around 0300.
My early indicator of good 160 conditions (hearing RK3PA) is now
four for four!
  Several new European calls were worked along with many of the
regulars.  UY1HY was 569 with little fading at 0348.  I didn't
hear any one else answer his many CQ's.
  I had to struggle for a QSO with CX1NT at 0552.
  I had a couple more "sunny QSO's"--LA9IAA was worked at 0655
(50 minutes after his sunrise) and SM4CAN was worked 35 minutes
after his sunrise at 0625.
  A few more zero's on the middle coast were heard then.  It's
hard to rate this year's antenna's changes without many close
stations on for a more meaningful comparison rather than vs.
the west or east coast.  And conditions sure seem different
(better) this year...
  Touching on a well discussed topic, I wonder how much the elevation
angle of my radiated signal has had on my results this fall(?).
It is centered at 15 degrees above the horizon with -3 dB points
at 3.3 and 39 degrees.  Radiation quickly decreases outside of 
that range.  Is my performance on 160 more due to that, the gain
of my 3 in-line elements to Europe in my parasitic vertical array,
my location (flat nearby, but excellent ground conductivity), 
luck, or none of the above?
  This report was delayed due to getting distracted by the nostalgia
of getting back on 10 meters and working Europe there again.
Guess that I have to give up sleeping altogether...

73,  Bill     K0HA


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