Topband: Interesting Propagation Anomaly 5/26/02 - 0030z

[Tom Rauch]

> I understand that at about 0054z W8JI spotted ES9C and noted it was a
> SE skew path on Rx at Tom's place.  I was seeing it due South but
> perhaps that was because I was further North.

It is normal even for northern Europeans like Norway to skew south or 
southeast from here during summer. It is much rarer for it to happen 
in the winter, although it does happen. During winter, ZL's sometimes 
skew NW here. During summer, JA's almost always skew west or SW.

More often than not my antenna is pointed right into the exact middle 
of darkness, not along a terminator and not direct path. Sometimes 
multiple paths are open at the same time.
 
> 2) What is most unclear to me is that RN2AF (RW2F) was up on 1835 at
> the time and was coming in 569 on a TRUE BEARING.  When I switched
> SOUTH on him, he faded way down.

He was East here.
 
> Wonder if anyone has seen this one before?

It is the rule rather than the exception during summer here for north 
or east Europe, but rarely from countries like F, G, and similar. 
Very often on stations in eastern Europe, and almost always on 
northern Europeans. 

(JA3KZR is CQing from the SW today as I type this). Sometimes just a 
few hundred miles or a few minutes of time can make a big difference 
in direction. Doesn't seem to be high angle, because the low dipole 
still remains significantly weaker compared to other antennas. The 
four-square or BS-EF array of verticals is generally slightly better 
than the high dipole.73, Tom W8JI
W8JI@contesting.com