Topband: Recent Conditions and Propagation From Boring

[Tree]

On Tue, Dec 04, 2007 at 12:27:27PM -0600, Phil Clements wrote:

> Conditions and propagation from E. TX have been average, at best. Only the
> "usual players" with average signals are coming through from Europe. The guy
> in Iceland never seems to work any NA stations. The rare countries in Asia,
> the South Pacific, etc. are not hearable at this QTH.
> 
> What ingredients are missing here? You would think that the conditions would
> be fantastic, with at least huge signals coming from EU. Where on the web
> can you go to see if 160 meters is going to worth trying on any given
> evening? Apparently, the A, K, Aurora, and sunspots don't guarantee
> anything!

Conditions here in Boring, have been - well - boring.  This is the 3rd year
in a row when a similar pattern seems to be playing out.  During October, 
there were fantastic openings to Europe - followed by really spotty 
conditions during the months where you would expect better openings.  

During the ARRL 160, I worked one European - and he was REALLY weak (an I3
called in on the second night).

The biggest difference seems to be in the mornings - where a second morning
produced "long path" openings to Europe during the ARRL 160.  I say long path
because these occur in the morning - at the same time as our long path 
openings on 80/40 meters.  However, they are not true long path openings since
the path is not over VK, but from the north.

73 Tree N6TR