Topband: Cool change hits VK6/160m

[Steve Ireland]

G'day

The last week has seen a cool change in the weather hitting the south
western part of WA.  The drop in humidity below 40% and temperatures
dropping into the mid twenties Celcius has seen the topband reach its best
heights at VK6VZ towards Europe in 2001.

The period before sunrise on the 24/01 brought 18 contacts with European
stations in 40 minutes, with strong spotlight conditions particularly good
into Germany and the Czech republic.  This morning followed suit with a
further eight stations in 20 minutes, mainly in the UK and Russia (although
I did spend almost 10 minutes of this, in true W1BB/old-style 160 fashion,
digging one weak G station out of the noise, which slowed me down a bit).

The weather man says the cool wx will last at least one more day.  I am
hoping that the good topband conditions run right through the CQ 160 weekend.

Vy 73,

Steve, VK6VZ

PS If anyone wondered what happened to the VK6VZ score in the 2000 CQ 160
contest, it got accidentally fell out of the results during the magazine's
production.  Dave, K4JRB, informs me that my ratified score was 86,199
points, which apparently means I win the certificate for Australia CW S/O.

Now, where am I going to find that extra 140,000 odd points I will need to
beat KH6CC for the CQ 160 Oceania plaque this year?... 


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