Topband: EU-VE6 2017-18 season

[Steve Babcock]

There has been some discussion here about the conditions and activity levels this past winter season on 160m, so I thought I would share my experience from western Canada.

The transpolar DX from VE6 to EU this season has been at times excellent, but nominally average. There have been a few openings when the direct polar path has been open with none of the usual south-west path skewing. All signals arriving direct from the NE. These opening had the strongest signals.

Another observation is that the majority of the EU Qso’s occurred after 0400z.
74 % of the QSOs were after 4:00z
67 % of the QSOs were after 5:00z
Being around for EU sunrise as it moves across the continent is helpful, not just for enhanced propagation, but also to catch those EU ops as the get up in the morning.
Dont forget….to expect Central and East EU operators to be at the radio at 0200z, means they are up at 3 or 4 am their local time. How many ops are at the radio at that time? (except for Mike F5IN who never seems to sleep).
There were also 3 QSOs with Vlad RA4LW via the direct polar path at my Sunrise at around 14:00z.
Solar wind speeds below 350 still seem like a good proxy for “possible” openings.

de Steve Ve6wz.

VE6WZ 160m Eu summary:

364 EU QSOs, 188 unique calls

1st QSO		Oct-17, 2017
Last QSO	Feb-26

PFX		QSO’s	UNIQUE

OH0		4		1
ZA		1		1
ES		1		1
UA		48		23	(15 QSO’s with Vlad RA4LW…the Beacon from EU!)
GU		1		1
UA2		5		2
YL		6		4
ON		9		6
LZ		2		2
OZ		4		2
G		32		19
OH		30		18
F		34		17
DL		26		17
SV		3		2
HA		20		9
EI		3		3
PA		15		5
LA		12		5
SP		4		4
CT		2		2
YO		1		1
EA		1		1
SM		46		16	(13 QSO’s with John SM5EDX….the “other” Beacon from N. EU!)
UY		11		8
YT		1		1
S5		3		3
E7		1		1
OK		15		10
OM		4		3