Topband: 160 contest; dits and dahs; propagation

[GEORGE WALLNER]

We normally make 1300 Q-s in this contest. This year, with a lot of hard 
work, only 994. Propagation had to be very selective. C6AGU was consistently 
20 - 24 dB on the W3LPL RBN, but not heard at W3HKK. At the same time, EU 
stations were causing QRM on the RX antenna, which is 10 dB down towards EU.
Strange conditions, indeed.


73,
George,
C6AGU

On Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:12:30 +0000 W3HKK at roadrunner.com wrote:
>Interesting comments!
>
>I specifically listened at my SR but heard no JA's.
>
>Also typically in this contest at certain hours I get a steady stream
>of W6, W7 replies - many surprisingly strong. This time it was less
>than 20. The West was fairly sparse, there were many cracks in the QRM
>wall, and it seemed most sigs were from the NE, Mid-Atlantic regions.
>4 Land is usually a big contributor to the log, but again this time
>much less so. Probably goes to show just how telescopic propagation can be on TB, ie
>spotty. Re: DX: I looked for every DX spot and heard none from EU. The
>Carrib was about it. No CA or SA ( other than XE.) Or Pacific other
>than KH6. Dits and dahs: My CQ CW Contest submission feedback results get hit
>pretty hard by penalties, and one of the major errors is the other guy
>logging me as SKK - so now I try to repeat it an extra time, slowing
>way down on the H. I thought I might have a sending problem with my
>7610 memories, but now chalk it up to noise/qsb/haste to move on to
>the next guy. I do hear and appreciate when the other guy slows down
>his call. Really helps me get it right by minimizing guesses. Worked KH6 around 11:30 pm local time here..a bit of a surprise, and
>then later saw a spot for KL7 but he was buried in the noise and never
>got him in the log. Usually hear them well around my midnight and
>sometimes before my SR. Nothing else heard from the Pacific or JA,
>even though I had worked JA two mornings before.
>
>Bob
>
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