TopBand: 160-meter propagation observations

[Alex C.J. van Eijk]

Luis Mansutti IV3PRK wrote:
> 3) "Ionospheric Ducting..." : very glad to see another authoritative
> opinion on this frequent DX phenomenon, could that explain also the
> difficulties I encountered during the month of january on the path to
> 3DA0CA ? ; I woke up every morning before 04 local time to look for Jon :
> he
> was almost every day at 03z on 1827.5 working Stateside but I could never
> hear him or even the W's calling 5 up; after a week he began working also
> North europeans, but I could receive just a wispy signal (339) for a couple
> of minutes and never tried to call ...until the 3rd of february when he was
> a solid 559 and I got through at the first call ! BTW at the same time the
> band was well open also towards USA Middle West and also West Coast
> (N6TR/7)...as it was not in the past days.

Hi Luis, et al

I worked Jon 3DA0CA the morning of 20 February at 0336z, it must have
been exactly his sunrise. If it can be attributed to the ionospheric
ducting phenomenon or not, this QSO has been my most remarkable contact
in 12 years of HAM radio. Like Luis, I looked for Jon daily at the
relatively unpleasant early hour in the morning. Jon was reported almost
daily, but zip at my QTH. The morning of 20 February sounded the same,
but then suddenly his signal rose from nearly inaudible to 9+10.
Previously I had not even bothered to push the split button because I
was not going to call anyway. Quickly I split, called once, and I was in
the log. Two minutes later his signal was gone!! A 9+ signal came and
disappeared in a matter of minutes. What a fascinating band...

73, Alex PA3DZN
-- 
Alex C.J. van Eijk
Email: DXIS@wxs.nl




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