Topband: R: [160m] 160 meter propagation?

[Luis Mansutti IV3PRK]

Tomas,
I agree with you: 160 meters should have been good these days, due to the
solar and geomagnetic numbers, but they have been strange: good enough on
the path from Europe to Asia and Japan, but very disapponting as far as the
Transatlantic path is concerned.
The season seemed well promising on September 29th when I got the first and
only opening of the year with the West Coast: wkd N7UA 569/579 on the new
Pennant; on that occasion the numbers were matching: SFI down to 138 and Ap
Index 4, just before rising the next days to 24 and than 60 and than 44!

I have been keeping regular records of my daily activity on Topband in the
last 10 years, trying to correlate them with those numbers through a
weighting system on monthly graphs, but it's hard to find an explanation of
the "160 mystery"!!

Now let's examine the last days from my location in North Eastern Italy, 46N
13E:

WEDNESDAY 11th dec. - SFI 152 Ap 6
05.00Z wkd K9DX in IL 569/569
05.00Z - 06.00Z  CQing.....nothing else
20.00Z - 21.00Z JA's negative here, but wkd by many europeans (no QRM, no
noise, just no conditions!)

THURSDAY 12th dec. - SFI 153 Ap 6
05.30Z hrd PJ2/K9BG 449 ...no sigs fron NA
20.30Z - 21.00Z wkd some JA's with fairs sigs (best of them JA3KZR and
JA6BZI with 579/579)
21.00 hrd DU9/N0MN 559

FRIDAY 13th dec. - SFI 167 Ap 4
04.00Z - 05.00Z calling CQDX, but wkd only Russians and Ukraines
20.00Z hrd HL3IUA 559 - UA0SC 579 - JA's 559
20.20Z hrd a whisper by XU7ACB: still need but not even tried to call Dick!
21.00Z a pick in the JA opening (JG3HBO 589/599)
22.30Z hrd 5H3RK 569

SATURDAY 14th dec. - SFI 186 Ap 10
06.27Z wkd VE3ZI 569/579 ...again only signal on the band
20.00Z - 22.00Z hrd only RU9TC and UN7JX ...usually very easy and common hr
Nothing else!

SUNDAY 15th dec. - SFI 203 Ap 6
05.00Z- 05.30Z  wkd some W1-2-3 with good sigs (K1ZM,K1JJ.K1FZ 599/599)
21.00 Z wkd VK6HD 559/579
21.05 Z wkd XU7ACB 569 - never heard Dick before! he was still solid copy
until 22.30Z at 579!
21.45 to 22.10Z wkd split frequency 1832/1813 several JA2-3-5-6's through
their sunrise with loud sigs 599/599 both ways!
At the same time KD9SV told me he was copying my signals one hour before his
sunset in Indiana.

MONDAY 16th dec. - SFI 203 Ap 5
05.00Z - 05.30Z the path was a little longer to K9AB 569/569 and VE3DO
579/599
21.00 Z hrd 5H3RK 569 and A45XR 599
21.40 Z wkd UA0SC 579/599
Called CQ JA as usual until their sunrise, but absolutely nothing, that
portion of the band was full of buoys QRM!
Also the cluster did'nt spot anything between Japan and Europe, but I was
spotted at 21.31Z by W1JZ and at 22.06Z by W4MYA while I was calling split
frequency.

TUESDAY 17th dec. - SFI 213 Ap 4
05.00Z - 06.30Z have been calling CQ DX.....no sigs, no noise ...nothing!
06.25Z wkd K9DX 579/579 : the only signal on the band /confirmed also by
cluster..what antennas John!!
20.30Z - 20.40Z short great opening with Japan:  JA1JRK 599/599 both ways,
but the buoys QRM still heavy
21.00Z wkd VK6VZ 589/589
Called CQ JA until their sunrise, but nothing more.
Hrd JT1CO for a long time 569
Spotted on the cluster by NO2R

WEDNESDAY 18 dec. - SFI 197 Ap 5
06.00Z - 06.45Z CQing ....until my sunrise: no sigs, no noise, NOTHING!
19.00Z - 19.30Z hrd XV3TAA 559
21.00Z hrd 4K5CW and UA0SC 599
21.15Z hrd JH2FXK (one of the loudest  Ja's) only 559 under the buoys QRM
21.30Z at the time of sending this e-mail: cqing JA split frequency
1833/1813 ...nothing but buoys!

If you need further details or long time data/graphs, I will be glad to
cooperate with you Tomas.
Best 73
Luis IV3PRK