Topband: Long Path dierction!

[D Andersen]

Hello again,

Thank you to all who have responded. I have had the opportunity read the replies and think about the replies.  We have some very smart people on this reflector.  

The difference in each of our perspectives of the "Long Path" seems different based on our location in the USA.  VK's "long path" is 200 in Dec/Jan while the short path is about 250 degrees(not far apart) from the East Coast.  I had never thought about this situation being in Tucson.  I can imagine there are some strange paths going on.  Here in Tucson the only thing that is similar that I have seen is JT1CO.  At sunrise he comes in equally strong from the "short path"(NW) and the "long path"(SW).  There is no trace of him from directly West.  I never know what direction to transmit but both work well with him.

My main sunrise propagation is via "long path" into Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean(OH, SM A6, VQ9, etc).  I use 3 Beverages for this, 180, 200 and 215 degrees.  About 1 hour before sunrise I do best with 180 degrees looking toward the gray line at a slight angle.  At +- 30 minutes or so of sunrise I do best with the 200 degree Beverage looking right down the gray line.  After the sunrise about 30 minutes I do best with the 215 degree Beverage looking out at the gray line through daylight.

Sometimes(about 30% of the time) at my sunrise I notice that the NW USA stations(they are further West than me) hear the LP much better than I do and I hear them saying that they are aiming their antennas further out to the Pacific than normal.  When I see this happening, my 215 degree Beverage is always best even though it is on MY sunrise.  The signals are leaving the gray line and passing through more darkness at these times(I think)(I don't know why).

Ken Brown asked a good question about antenna directivity.  I have no Helicopter but I do believe in the science of EZNEC.  My observations of the directivity of my 12 Beverages seem very close to what EZNEC shows.  EZNEC shows that a nice long Beverage has an azimuth and elevation pattern about twice as narrow  as a 3 element NBS yagi.  Without a Helicopter I "feel" that these Beverage antennas are very "Laser like" in reception.  I have a 5 element beam on 20 meters and these Beverages are much sharper than it is(and it is good).  

My transmit antenna is a 4-square and has very poor directivity(about 45 degree +- per direction).  It still offers some help now and then in direction finding(it never hears well compared to the Beverages).

The bent(skewed) path as seen here in Tucson when working Europe(35 degrees from Tucson short path) changes to 90 degrees for Europe during "bent path" times.  I believe that this is caused by skirting the Auroral Oval at these times(not a problem on the East Coast).  We can still work Europe without too much attenuation but we must aim East(90 degrees).  There is almost nothing coming from the usual 35 degree.  During these times I hear the NW USA stations say that they are aiming South West(over South America).  I think they are picking up on the 90 degree propagation I am seeing down here in Tucson.

I enjoyed hearing that stations in the East can work LA during the summer.  We can barely work them in the winter.  We do have great propagation to eastern Asia(JA, YB, VK, HL, etc.) and can work them all summer with strong signals.  

I wonder where the best place on earth is for Ham Radio?  I guess it depends on whether we want to do it the "easy way", the "hard way" or the "contest way".

Best regards,
Don, w7dd