Topband: Conditions last night

[Steve London]

There was a strong sporadic E opening last night, covering most of the 
eastern USA. Guess what time it ended, based on the 6 meter spots ? A 
little after 05Z. It's always been my belief that an intense sporadic E 
opening effectively blankets the lower HF frequencies with very high 
absorption.

Hopefully, the 6 meter crowd will be unhappy this weekend, and we will 
have good DX condx for the Stew Perry !

73,
Steve, N2IC/5

Roger Parsons wrote:
> I was very struck by the sudden change in conditions last night. At
> 0400Z the band was completely dead here - could only barely hear the
> EA cross band CQ machine. At about 0500 I weakly heard TA3D calling
> on 1834. Called myself silly and was eventually answered by RA4LW who
> was exceptionally weak (he is usually very loud). Presumably TA3D and
> RA4LW were not hearing each other at that point, and TA3D afterwards
> moved up the band a bit. He got stronger and stronger, but nobody 
> that I heard from NA was able to get a response. At about 0600 the
> floodgates opened and all of Europe - including UA - was very strong
> here until I closed down at about 0700. HUGE Eu pileup for YS1RR who
> was unfortunately not working split.
> 
> It all goes to make life interesting!
> 
> 73 Roger VE3ZI
>