Topband: Sunrise times

[Jim Brown]

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 16:44:38 +0200, Bj”rn Mohr wrote:

>One observation is that SR often brings more action that SS

It also depends on where the darkness is, where there are stations 
to take advantage of the propagation, and what conditions are like 
on the other end. I live on the west coast of the US, and also find 
good signals and considerable activity to the west  around sunrise. 
In general, propagation peaks in the hour or ending in sunrise. It 
may persist for 10-20 minutes or end before sunrise, but when it 
goes, it can be like someone turned off a switch. 

Each higher band persists longer -- when 160 dies, there's still 
life on 80 meters for another 45-60 minutes, and when 80 dies, 
another 45-60 minutes for 40 meters. On all of these bands, the main 
propagation is to the west (and on 40, many mornings have offered 
long path to EU from the western half of the US). 

Another problem with going west from the west coast of the US is the 
Chinese jammers. When they start up, hundreds of kHz are so full of 
noise that hams from VK to KH6 to JA must turn off their radios (or 
at least QSY). 

73,

Jim Brown K9YC