TopBand: Chasing Alligators

[Elephant]

A strange night #1 to the ARRL CW DX Contest for the top band!
The recent geomagnetic storm had me doubt that things would be good
for the contest--but it turned out to be better than expected...
Until 0400z it felt like I was chasing DX stations who I could copy
good but only half of those could hear me, and few of those very good.
Getting home from work a bit late I got on around 0040z.  RW2F was
the first DX station I heard--he was the strongest thing from Europe
until DL5AXX got on around 0200 and CT1BOH at 0230.  I had a "maybe
QSO" with RW2F at 0048 and then a definite one at 0131.  YZ6A was on
with a reasonable signal early but never heard me during the several
times that I called or the others that I heard calling.  I struggled
before I got TM1C to copy me early...
After 0400z the European signals got stronger and things became
easier.  RU1A, YL8M, HG1S, 9A7A, 9A1A, 9A2TW, S57M, S50U, HA0IT,
OK2EQ, OK1DOT, and OK2ZU were some of the further east stations
that I worked.  I never worked or heard any Scandinavian stations.
After 0450z I started calling CQ and my ears shrunk as I missed a
few callers due to the high static level here...
Looking at the Grayline Auroral map at:
http://solar.uleth.ca/solar/www/160gray.html I fantasized that I was
working the Europeans via auroral grayline (Scandinavia was in the
middle aurora and the Italians were down from the stations north
of them)...
The only European that I heard with a strong auroral tone on their
signal was the last one that I worked--G3UOF at 0706.  The others
sounded mostly normal with moderate fading...
I'm looking forward to the next round...

73,  Bill     K0HA



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