Topband: JA sp/lp from east coast

[John Kaufmann]

I dug back into the Topband Reflector archives and found these references of mine to LP JA openings: 

http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Topband/2000-01/msg00006.html
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Topband/2000-01/msg00002.html
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Topband/1998-01/msg00042.html

There are at least two more instances of LP JA I can recall that pre-date the oldest Topband archives.  One was probably around 1994 (JA4CQS) and another was in mid-January 1996, I believe (JA1HQT and/or JA1JRK).

I also have a recollection of somebody in W1 (can't remember who) hearing LP JA's back in the mid-1980's around the sunspot minimum of that decade.

Note that in these archived posts I mentioned two broadcast beacons--Tokyo on 3925 kHz and Pyongyang, North Korea on 2850 KHz--that I've found very useful as propagation benchmarks for the lowbands.  In my experience they correlate very well with propagation to those areas on 80m as well as 160m.  There's also a broadcast beacon in Singapore on 3915 kHz, which is loud on LP in W1 this time of year around local sunset.  When these beacons get really strong, it's time to start tuning 160 for the Far East.

73, John W1FV