Topband: Unusual condx

[Paul Kelley N1BUG]

Interesting conditions last night. Worked Mike VK6HD around sunset. 
Great to see you again Mike. The usually easy VK6 path has not been 
good so far this season. Mike was coming in northeast over Europe, 
but most European stations were weak to fair at the time. Overall 
the European path has been particularly poor the past few days.

But the really interesting stuff came this morning. Jon DU9/N0NM was 
in for over 25 minutes with a 569 peak at my SR. This is the best I 
have ever heard Jon, and only the third time I have heard anything 
at all of him. Despite very low geomagnetic activity the path was 
skewed due west. Likewise KH2 and several JAs heard briefly after SR 
were coming from the west. Unfortunately I wasn't able to squeeze my 
signal into DU9... and I'm still at least a day or two away from 
having my new transmit antenna operational! (probably more given 
Murphy's law and the way this project has been going)

73,
Paul N1BUG