Topband: Summer Propagation

[Herbert Schoenbohm]

Bob,

The advantages in the communications spectrum for living in the mid latitudes are
countless. Over the years comparing contest scores between, lets say, a KL7 or
VE8 and KP4 help demonstrate the problem. A rule of thumb is that the closer you
are to an auroral zone, the worse it gets. Living south of 20 degrees north we
also have enhance propagation like the almost incredible field aligned anomaly
equatorial ducting that permits skip communication on 2 meters with Argentina and
Uruguay. (I missed the world 2 meter distance record after working a ham in
because another one in KP4 was a few miles further from the LU7.)

>From a societal perspective all is not lost. A geography professor once explained
in class a theory why the higher latitudes around the world had a much higher
rate of social and economic progression.
In short he stated that bland unchanging climates yield bland unchanging
cultures. The changes of seasons require, apparently, people to continually
adjust and prepare for changes in climate and subsequent life styles.
Consequently those in regions of significant climate change are more productive
and developmentally enabled, according to his theory.  This theory attempts to
find reasons why higher latitude cultures have a leg up on others. And why the
industrial revolution and the principle location of industrialization coincide
with the cross roads of transportation routes and the mixing of ideas from other
parts of the world. (Compare life in Venice with that in Palermo, Sicily to
demonstrate how this theory extends even to a single country.)

Of course when you pass a certain elevation in latitude going north (or south)
you run into a similar phenomenon where it is cold and windy most of the year and
that climate is also bland and relatively unchanging the results are similar.

Where this ties into ham radio, I am not exactly sure. But prior to the advent of
200 channel cable TV and NFL football most of us, when the propagation was
unproductive for DX etc., would shut of the radio and go out and be productive in
other ventures. Here in the tropics, however, I have a tendency to prefer laying
in a hammock under a palm tree on the beach with a Pina Colada, just like the
touristas. Yet when I lived in Minnesota years ago, I would rush home after work
in the summer months, and spend the evening digging up the back yard putting down
copper radials in preparation for the fall winter low band DX season.

Just consider how lucky you are to live in a region where the Pleistocene ice age
seems to return year after year after a scorching summer.  Remember the fall and
winter DX season are just around the corner. Its worth preparing for.

73

Herb Schoenbohm (ex-KV4FZ)



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