Topband: JAs on TopBand

[David Olean]

Hello Mark,

Glad you caught it! That is a wonderful day for the northeast! I was up 
at 1115UT this AM,  as the dog wanted to go out, and I pondered whether 
to trudge out to my barn and get on 160. I had been up until 1 AM re 
working an old 75A4 and a PTO and was exhausted. I decided to go back to 
bed. Darn!  I had a similar experience about a week or so ago. I worked 
8 JAs in the morning. I was on cloud 9 all day. Like you, I was pulling 
out weak signals. At other times I have noticed that the JA and UA0 
signals might be louder but they don't hear me. Must be a polarization 
thing!

Congratulations to you, and raspberries for me as I went back to bed!

Dave K1WHS

On 12/22/2018 4:57 PM, Mark K3MSB wrote:
> This morning was surreal.....
>
> I couldn't sleep so I got up around 0900Z, had a cup of coffee, read for a
> while, then went down to the shack.  I worked 3D2AG on 80M CW and was
> listening to him put in a very nice signal to the east coast while I did
> some email correspondence.  I QSY'd to 160M around 1145Z.
>
> I worked JH1HDT, JA7BXS, and JA0MVW between 1202Z and 1216Z. 3 JA's!!!
> Wow!!!
>
> My SR is around 0723Z.  I figured what the heck, parked on 1823 and called
> CQ DX.  This is where it gets surreal.....  I worked JH7PFD, JO1WXO,
> JH2FXK, and JA2ZL between 1222 and 1234Z -- They called me!  I had to dig
> to get some of them, but we made it.
>
> I was going to shut down and noticed BG2AUE was spotted on 80M.  I went to
> 80M.... and oh my God.... I'm hearing him.   Coffee flying,  I quickly
> changed feedlines and turned the linear so the knobs would match my red
> electrical tape marks.  Squirted some RF....  He was 20 KHz down from where
> I had worked 3D2AG and the SWR was higher than I'd like..... but 3500Z are
> forgiving so more RF was squirted.    He came back to me!  Well, I'm pretty
> sure he did as he was weak as water,  when I worked him at 1259Z, which is
> my SR + 35 minutes or so.  I have an email out to him and I am checking
> LoTW periodically.... well,  more than periodically......
>
> I'm waiting for Rod Serling to walk around the corner...... "Here we have
> one Mark K3MSB, an unknowing visitor to the Twilight Zone......."
>
> Days like this are what make all the days upon days of crappy propagation
> worth it!   As my TopBand Elmer Glenn K3SWZ always tells me -- "you have to
> put in the seat time and be there when "it" happens..... "
>
> 73 Mark K3MSB
> _________________
> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
>