Topband: DX Contest conditions...

[Ford Peterson]

I noted that during the contest, especially on Saturday night, the popular propagation summary http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ was reporting an A index of zero (0) and a K index of zero (0).  I don't remember another time when this was true, especially during a contest.  

>From MN, conditions seemed excellent for a domestic contest.  In fact, several old 'records' appear to have been retired by quite a margin.  DX was almost completely absent.  South America, the Caribbean, and central America had excellent signal strength.  No EU or OC or JA with KH6 being weaker than normal.  

Can one surmise from the A and K indices being at or very near Zero that the these indicators play a significant role in the traditional 'path skewing' that is known to occur on Topband?  Auroral activity appears to have been quite low over the weekend.  This op was hopeful that a near polar path was possible under such conditions.  Perhaps instability in the ionosphere contributes to the skewing that normally occurs?  Hence, no instability = no skewing = no EU DX in northern US latitudes or western longitudes.

It is too early to really evaluate the results in grand detail, but I would like to start by collecting a summary from each of the DX stations operating as to the # of QSOs by state so as to facilitate a closer examination.  I know from previous analysis of logs that confidentiality is important to many people.  To protect the source (the real owner of the information), I will attempt to report the results generically as opposed to describing specific results from any given station.  No need to let anyone unnecessarily gloat or be embarrassed in any way.  Your data and your call will not be connected in my report and your responses will not be released to anyone.  As always, to protect the integrity of the log checking process, refrain from sending me your logs at this point, at least until the time period for log submissions has passed.  Please indicate in your reponse your approximate location (country) and latitude.  Send your data here ford at cmgate.com

In an effort to further the scientific nature of this analysis, I will report a summary of some sort on the Topband reflector (here) as soon as one is compiled.

Ford-N0FP
ford at cmgate.com