Topband: J28MD, conditions

[Wes]

Not making much noise here, but sure hearing a lot.  I did work PJ4K on 10/30 on 
SSB no less.  I'm almost sorry to say I dropped down to FT8 and worked 25 JA 
stations in a run.  On 11/2 I worked DU7ET and that's it from my modest station 
in the Sonoran Desert.  The Pacific expeditions, the mainstays from the west 
side of the country, are non-starters. P29RO has decided no CW on TB because of 
hearing problems (I know the feeling).   A35GC hasn't shown up and T88WA is 
supposedly still building an antenna.  Unfortunately, the guys down under seem 
to quit before I'm out of bed, even at 4:30 AM like this morning.  I think that 
after Bouvet, whether I work them or not, I'll convert the inverted-L to 
something more useful.

Wes  N7WS

On 11/5/2022 9:00 AM, David Raymond wrote:
> Greetings Topbanders. . .
>
> I've spent a considerable amount of time on watch this past week for J28MD on 
> Topband (CW).  While they've spent a fair amount of time on TB I haven't yet 
> had success yet in spite of my ongoing efforts.   I believe it was this past 
> Tuesday night when Joel, W5ZN, said they appeared briefly out of the noise 
> (about 10 minutes or so and did have success with his BSEF-8 and Hi-Z 8 arrays 
> in diversity)  then disappeared the rest of the evening. Wednesday night's 
> opening to NA was much longer starting on the East coast and slowly sweeping 
> westward with quite a few NA making it in the log (EC + 5's, 8's, & 9s', VE).  
> Unfortunately the prop just never quite made it this far west.  They barely 
> peaked out of the noise here in Iowa Wednesday evening (NA time) just enough 
> to get me excited and dump my call a few times hoping for even a marginal QSO. 
> . . but no cigar.  It's a little frustrating to see that they always QRT about 
> 30 minutes or so prior to their SR but they get credit for being on faithfully 
> on CW and FT8 as well.  I know they're getting close to wrapping up but 
> hopefully they'll be on (CW) again this evening.
>
> It's been good to have some DX operations QRV and bring some much needed life 
> to TB (which sure hasn't had much). . .TY0, 5V, and now J28, A3, and T88.  The 
> prop has been very poor.  CQing here in the evening brings no DX responses and 
> only a handful of EU EBN hits so far this season.  Thankfully mornings have 
> activity from our very stalwart VK friends (VK3HJ, VK2WF, VK6GX, VK6IR, VK6LW, 
> others) but only a handful of JA QSOs so far this season (8 to be exact).  
> JA1LZR gets kudos for being QRV almost every morning (NA time),  but without 
> much prop, I think only limited success.    I have yet to hit the VK4CT RBN 
> CQing here in the mornings.  I don't think this is totally attributable to the 
> increased SFI. . . prop from here was only marginally better two seasons ago 
> when the SFI was very low.
>
> All that said, I encourage everyone to get on and make some noise.
>
> 73. . . Dave, W0FLS (in Iowa)
>
> _________________
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