Topband: Conditions here in South Africa

[Raoul Coetzee]

Here in southern South Africa conditions on Top band are noisy in the
evening and much more  quiet in the later halve of the night but I suspect
that either the band is closed or nobody on the air!
OH3WD and I had a sked and last night,19:06, I heard his faint signals in
the noise and by the time we confirmed RST reports, he was quite strong!
I did not hear any other signals on the band! So, nobody there or no
conditions?
I also wonder why I seem to have good openings to northern Europe and no
other signals present, I am not referring to the 'spotlight' effect, I mean
this openings to northern EU is very common from my qth. Are they more
active than the rest of EU?
73 all
Raoul,  ZS1REC