Topband: Surprise opening to JA

[Peter Sundberg]

Last night I was greeted with some of the best signals I've ever heard on
Top band from Japan. I had a continous pileup for almost two hours, which
is kind of unusual for me.

What surprised me was that earlier in the evening when I was on 20m CW,
signals from northern Europe were all auroral, with a distinct buzzing note. 

Normally this would mean mediocre to poor conditions on Top band for
signals travelling through the aurora zone, but not so this time. Even the
slow QSB that's been rather pronounced in recent weeks was reduced.

Last weekend I was hearing VK's on 80m right at noon, in full daylight, so
low band conditions are looking quite interesting at this time. Let's hope
they stay that way.

73 de Peter SM2CEW
www.sm2cew.com