Topband: One Way Propagation.

[Roger Kennedy]

If you have an efficient transmitting antenna, and an accurately calibrated
S Meter, I have found over the decades that most signal reports are pretty
Reciprocal.

When it comes to 160m DX-ing, I think my own situation is fairly unusual, in
that my Receiving Antenna is also my Transmitting Antenna.  (being a dipole,
it's fairly low noise on Receive)

And as a result, 90% of the time I have found that my signal reports on Top
Band are pretty much the same both ways . . . and that's whether working
stations around Britain, around Europe, across the pond to North or South
America (including to the West Coast), even the Far East or VK/ZL.

Last night when I worked Jeff VY2ZM he said my signal was peaking S9 +20dB .
. . and he was the same strength with me.

But what prompted me to start a new discussion was receiving an mail from a
station in Arizona who said I was 579 with him last night . . . but I didn't
come back to him.  Well, my noise level was around S3 last night, and I did
hear a couple of stations down in the noise calling me . . . which means
that he was far weaker with me than I was with him.

And thinking about it, this happens quite often on Top Band. Not only is
Propagation often VERY selective (meaning someone 200 miles away may have
much better propagation to a particular area than you) . . . but also that
sometimes the Propagation is ONE-WAY . . . that you're receiving them far
weaker than they're receiving you, or the other way round.

I wonder if many DX-ers on here have noticed the same phenomenon . . .
particularly those that often work the same stations many times (as I do).

73 Roger G3YRO