Topband: 1A4A

[Jim Brown]

On Fri, 5 Jan 2007 13:24:41 -0400, Herb Schoenbohm wrote:

>Just talked to 1A4A on 20 meters and he promises to look for NA at
>2300 on 160.  Last night he used 1.831 and was on at about 0600 but
>only for a few minutes. he worked a few NA few and went QRT.  I 
>asked him to try several times from 2300Z on and ask for NA to give
>more stations a chance.  

Yes. Propagation from EU and AF to the west coast of the US tends to 
be of the "spotlight" variety, to the extent that the path is only 
workable for 15-20 minutes to a given location, especially if the 
station on either end has less than optimal receiving conditions or 
less than full power. 

For example, 9J2BO was on the edge of my noise for a while last night, 
to the extent that over about 3 minutes, I was able to copy his call. 
And that's from a moderately quiet QTH on a 600 ft Beverage!  I've 
worked two other AF stations during December. Both were readable for 
less than a half hour, and popped through nicely for about half that 
time.  

73,

Jim K9YC
Santa Cruz, CA