Topband: 160 "Spotlight"

[ws6x at comcast.net]

>Message: 7
>Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:31:18 -0500
>From: Bill Tippett <btippett at alum.mit.edu>
>Subject: Re: Topband: strange conditions

>And the "spotlight" does move around. W3BGN, who is about 100 miles 
>NNE of me, and I have observed this over the years -- a particular 
>DX signal will sometimes peak at Steve's and I can't hear it, and 
>vice versa, and it may see-saw back and forth.

For me, the most dramatic example of this "spotlight effect" was in Nov. 2005 when the TZ gang was gearing up for CQWWCW. I stalked them on 160 for several evenings and never once heard so much as a peep. One evening shortly after SS, I noticed that all my west coast buddies -- some with less stuff aimed at TZ than I -- were all working this guy, but I was still not hearing a thing!

I called my buddy Perry - K6XJ, and asked him to get on 160 and listen for the TZ. (Perry lives about 6 miles from me.) Low and behold, when Perry tuned the freq. I could hear the TZ over the phone! Absolutely Q5! Perry switched between 3 antennas -- a 160M half-wave sloper top-fed at 60', a low 80M inverted-V apex at 55', and a CC 40-2CD at 65'. I could copy equally well on all three antennas!

Meanwhile, I was switching between 3 antennas - my TX, a half-sloper top-fed at 78', an 80 M delta loop, apex at 95', and a CC 40-2CD at 108'. I still grimace when I remember - not a trace on any antenna! (My noise level was unusually low that evening!) 

Of course, this year, I was on the way to KP4 for CQWWCW when the TZ gang was firing up, so missed them again! Can I hope for another crack in 2007?

HNY!

Jim - WS6X