Topband: VP8STI 160 Meter Path

[Herbert Schoenbohm]

VP8STI appeared to have some multipath conditions FWIW.  SE/S/ SW with 
me switching Beverages and this was hard to really determine. Their 160 
meter signal would rise and fall from 579 to very weak. however there 
was a time around 0100 when they were the most consistent.  I think the 
same thing was experienced earlier when Dima was working EU only when 
the grey-line path to NA existed and they were workable in EU and AF.  
An hour later they must have either lost their EU path of changed 
antenna directions because the
EU stations reported them in the noise. Some stations complained that 
Dima was  sending over 30 WPM as he usually does. However I think this 
helps some stations in the tropic and where TS exist in places like 
Florida as you get your call between crashes.

I can't give enough praise for the DXE NCC-1 phaser which arrived last 
week. In the case of VP8STI I was trying to phase a SE Beverage and a S 
Beverage together that are about 60 feet apart and running the same 
direction.  There were times that this made the difference between solid 
copy and very weak copy.

So many of us should also press the donate button again if we haven't 
already since two ATNO on 160 doesn't happen that often for long time 
topbanders.


Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ

On 1/21/2016 11:06 AM, Larry Burke wrote:
> Propagation was interesting. It felt a bit like being on 6 meters. N5DG, who
> is only 80 miles NW of me, and I had been listening most of the evening. At
> best we were hearing peeps. Then at 0336z Ed not only starts hearing him
> well, but logs him. Still nothing here. It's a full 20 minutes later before
> I heard and worked him. He came out of nowhere. Signals improved
> considerably after we worked, built to about 569 and stayed that way for at
> least the next 30 minutes.
>
> Ed and I experienced the same situation on 75 meters -- only they built to
> true 5x9 there.
>
> Like Joel, I tinkered with various directions. But they definitely peaked SE
> for me. Never heard much, if anything, in other directions.
>
> Larry K5RK
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of MU
> 4CX250B
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 7:42 AM
> To: w5zn at w5zn.org
> Cc: topband
> Subject: Re: Topband: VP8STI 160 Meter Path
>
> Not a peep from them all evening into New Mexico. Frustrating!
> Jim w8zr
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jan 21, 2016, at 5:54 AM, Joel Harrison <w5zn at w5zn.org> wrote:
>>
>> Tonight on 160 VP8STI had a good signal. Here in Arkansas their signal
>> arrived from the NE from around 0115z until around 0200z peaking
>> around 5 dB above my noise floor. Around 0200z they went "QRX" for a few
> minutes.
>> When they returned their sig was much weaker and finally faded.
>>
>> As the evening went on their sig returned around 0330z here and was in
>> and out of the noise, still peaking to the NE and somethings shifting E to
> SE.
>> Right About a half hour before their SR the signal peaked to the SE
>> and remained their until they faded into the sunrise.
>>
>> Best signal level here was 10 dB above my noise floor.
>>
>> Just wanted to pass that on for the folks (K9LA, W4ZV, etc) that keep
>> track of these paths for us.
>>
>> 73 Joel W5ZN
>>
>>
>> www.w5zn.org
>>
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