Topband: PJ2T on 160 Meters: Europe Before Sunset

[py2xb]

Guys

>From PQ0F (3 degrees below equator) we heard lots of EU 1 hour b4 sunset and
no one heard us as well.
We heard these stations very well using a vertical polarized  RX flag ant
aimed North (similar to the RX Flag used by FO0AAA group).
I have assumed that if we had a vertical TX antenna we would be perhaps
heard in EU as well.

After sunset signals started to build up on the inverted V antenna (TX ant)
and get worse on the flag antenna. Then we have started to have qsos.

What may happen is that B4 sunset signals are mostly vertical

Just a guess

Fred PY2XB

2010/2/7, Milt, N5IA <n5ia at zia-connection.com>:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Maass" <jmaass at k8nd.com>
> To: "'Topband Mailing List'" <topband at contesting.com>
> Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 1:36 PM
> Subject: Topband: PJ2T on 160 Meters: Europe Before Sunset
>
>
> <SNIP>
>
> > Remember, this is from 12-degrees North of the Equator, in the bright
> > Caribbean sunshine
> > and with ~85 degF temperatures! I wasn't able to get any stations to hear
> > me this early,
> > but we could hear them!
> >
> > During the contest, twilight at PJ2T came 30 minutes after the contest
> > began, and full
> > darkness came almost 1.5 hours into the contest period. We did not work
> > our first mainland
> > European station (EA7SG) until 0024Z, almost 2.5 hours into the contest.
> > At the beginning
> > of the contest, Europeans are feeding on themselves, and not listening
> > outside. We've
> > learned to point our receiving antennas at North America for the first
> few
> > hours of the
> > contest, as twilight moves slowly across the USA and Canada.
> >
> > 73, Jeff  K8ND
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jeff,
>
> The exact same thing was noted from 24 degrees South and 124 degrees West
> at
> Ducie Island, VP6DX, in middle and late February, 2008.  Remember this is
> the equivalent of middle and late August in the northern Hemisphere.
>
> Prior to the ARRL DX CW and the CQ 160 SSB, great signals from NA and EU
> were heard beginning a full hour before sunset.  In fact, some signals from
> eastern EU heard very well on 160 Meter SSB during that time period were
> never worked during the contest.
>
> I don't know if the signals were copiable any earlier because the stations
> were occupied on other bands up until that time.  But suffice it to say
> that
> there is a one to two hour differential between the "hearing" and being
> able
> to "work" most  very distant stations at sunset.
>
> Milt, N5IA, VP6DX, XZ0A
>
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>



-- 
PY2XB - Fred Carvalho