Topband: VP8STI 160 Meter Path

[lmlangenfeld at tds.net]

I was pleasantly surprised to hear very strong and stable sigs from VP8STI late Wednesday evening (0445 UT) here, genuine 569 (maybe a bit more on peaks) --receiving only on my modest "lazy L" w/32 radials.  Hoped for even better sigs at their SR, but things gradually slid after about 0500 UT, and they had vanished by 0520. Shortly thereafter, I worked them fairly easily (they didn't seem terribly busy) on 40m w/100W into a low wire. This was all rather startling to me because I had been hearing quite a few strong AU sigs on 6m only a couple of hours earlier.  That kind of disturbance usually draws the curtains on the low bands for awhile up here in the north country. Not so this time, which makes all the reports of unusual paths and hot spots all the more interesting.

On a collateral note:  The K5P crew's timely antenna fix made for good sigs here this morning.  I managed to get in their log during a nice peak at about local SR w/100W and the aforementioned "lazy L."  Nice way to start the day.

73,

Mark -- WA9ETW