Topband: 160m CW Activity

[Don Kirk]

Hi Roger,

I just checked with Brad (W1NT), and he said he currently has 3 RBN
receivers running, and it looks like all 3 spotted you this morning.  All 3
of his receivers are located on the same property in NH.  Two of them use
beverages and one uses a vertical.  One beverage is pointed NE and the
other is pointed NNE.

Just FYI,
Don (wd8dsb)

On Thu, Apr 16, 2020 at 9:59 AM Roger Kennedy <roger at wessexproductions.co.uk>
wrote:

> Hi Don
>
> Yes, maybe the band was only open to the East Coast last night . . . or
> perhaps I didn't actually stay on long enough for it to be dark much
> further West (although I did work one station in Alabama)
>
> I'm not sure how you tell WHERE each RBN site is . . .
>
> Sure, you can tell where the MAIN station is . . . but some people have as
> many as 6 RBN sites . . . presumably at different remote sites . . . so are
> they all in the same State?  (that seems pointless to me)
>
> The trouble is that if I end up staying up til 0300Z  (4am local time) I
> find it hard to get out of bed again a couple of hours later at our Sunrise
> !
>
> 73 Roger G3YRO
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Hi Roger,
>
> I believe your having a big 40 dB S/N report from NH on the RBN is not as
> telling as what the RBN did not show for you.  If you look at the last 100
> RBN spots of you last night which was from 0107 UTC until 0317 UTC you were
> only picked up in the US by the RBN's in NH, and then one time by an RBN in
> very eastern PA (all very close to the Ocean).  You were not heard anywhere
> else in the US on the RBN network during the 0107 to 0317 UTC time slot
> even though the noise floor in most of the US was likely very low based on
> the lack of lightning activity (only lightning I saw over the US was over
> Florida).  The noise floor was very low at my location in the Midwest
> (Indiana).
>
>  I was not on when you were on, but I was on slightly later from 0345
> until 0515 UTC and conditions were very poor into Europe from the Midwest
> US which is why I suspect I don't see any RBN reports of you during the
> above 0107 UTC to 0317 UTC time slot into any areas except the very most
> Eastern part of the US (NH and Eastern PA).
>
> I heard EU stations ON7PQ and F6FYA when I was on slightly later than you
> and they were just barely above my noise floor which was very low last
> night.  F6FYA peaked about 2 db above my very low noise floor and Pat ON7PQ
> was always in the mud (right at my noise floor) which is unusual for him.
> The only other EU station I heard was John G3PQA when he answered my CQ
> right at his sunrise (I only run 100 watts), and he was right at my noise
> floor when he called but peaked 1 minute later to about 4 to 6 dB (most
> likely due to brief sunrise enhancement).
>
> I also called CQ numerous times but was not heard by any EU RBN stations,
> but that's not unusual for my 100 watts.
>
> P.S. there was a CWT (CW ops test) from 0300 to 0400 UTC which overlaps
> when you were on last night and I heard numerous stations in the US on 160
> meters taking part in the CWT and if you were not hearing many of them
> that's another indication that conditions were not very good from the
> Midwest US into Europe.
>
> Keep pounding away, and we will keep listening.
> 73,
> Don (wd8dsb)
>
> On Thu, Apr 16, 2020 at 5:48 AM Roger Kennedy <
> roger at wessexproductions.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>
>> Yes, conditions seemed good last night (had several 35 - 40dB S/N reports
>> from NA stations on RBN)
>> During the night there were several EU stations calling CQ . . . but very
>> few NA stations on the band ! (I know a lot of you guys over there have
>> much
>> lightning and resultant static crashes now)
>> I did have a few QSOs . . . and a nice email from John N1PGA.
>> I guess I'm still surprised there isn't MORE activity, given that we're
>> all
>> supposed to be staying home !
>> Hope you're all staying well in these crazy times . . .
>> Best 73
>> Roger G3YRO
>>
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