Topband: K4M and 160m into Western Europe

[Jim Brown]

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:59:34 -0000, john.devoldere, ON4UN wrote:

>To all the operators from K4M, and especially the topband specialists, thank
>you for a new country. And let's hope that we all have learned lessons from
>this operation. On both sides.

Thanks for your comments, John. The "spotlight" propagation you're describing 
is quite common for the path between California and Europe -- it's exactly 
what I was talking about in my recemt post. 

Near San Francisco, I had a front row seat for K4M (they were usually S9 on 
whatever band they were working, including 160M), and I was impressed by the 
VERY skilled operators. These guys were mostly contesters, and were often 
reeling off the contacts at 3-4 per minute. They also placed considerable 
emphasis on all of the lower bands, and although nearly all were Americans 
and were relatively close to the US, US stations did NOT dominate their logs. 
As to the total number of Qs -- you may recall that the team was delayed by 
several days in reaching island by maintenance problems with their aircraft.  
>From my seat, I'd call it a first class expedition. 

73,

Jim K9YC