Topband: ARRL 160 contest observation

[Jim Brown]

On 12/11/2013 11:54 AM, Ray Benny wrote:
> I find that It makes a difference being further South and East. I worked
> only one EU in 30 years in So, Calif on 160m. I didn't have a great station
> but we just don't have the EU opening in CA.
>
> Now, being 400 miles East of So. CA. in Central Arizona, just North of
> Prescott, I've made well over 250 EU contacts since 2009. Many are with the
> same strong EU stations, but my DXCC count has gone from 50 or so entities
> to about 170! The major factor, I believe, is that my path to EU 160m just
> skirts the Aurora zone, while the Calif it doesn't.

I agree with your analysis, Ray, and so do other very smart NorCal 
DXers.  There's also a significant difference between NorCal and OR/WA. 
I don't have a guess I trust as to why.

> But yet, stations further East or South of me, even by 200 miles, do
> better. The further East the better, and being in New England or further NE
> is the best, at least, most of the time.  The W6's do have a better Asia
> that us, but we still do well.

Yes. And there's also a bit of what I call "spotlight effect" -- sort of 
like the sun peeking through a small opening in fairly dense clouds.  I 
find that, in general, when I can work EU or AF on 160M, those in Zone 5 
cannot, for whatever reason. When I moved here in 2006, my neighbor 
K6XX, who has a superb contesting station 3 miles N of me at the top of 
the ridge over which I must work northern EU, told me that we hear EU on 
160 here only a few nights a year. Since moving here in 2006, I've 
worked (and confirmed) 16 countries in EU on Topband, and nearly all 
were worked near the bottom of the solar cycle.

73, Jim K9YC