Topband: Good Conditions

[Steve Harrison]

On 1/13/2024 3:19 AM, Roger Kennedy wrote:
> Conditions were pretty good from Europe to North America last night . . .
>
> Not many stations on CW though !

My experience to judge conditions is limited, but my impression was that 
conditions from Europe past the NA east coast were not very good. From 
the southwestern desert, about all I heard were V31XX and ZF9CW, both 
S9, but absolutely no Europe was heard by me although over a dozen were 
spotted by RBN. In addition, I don't remember that any Europe was 
spotted by RBN any further west than a hundred miles or so from the east 
coast. I thought I heard (and I actually spotted) IK2CLB once, but later 
I realized I was actually hearing K1TZQ work him... and TZQ never got 
very loud here in the desert, maybe S3 at best. Other easterners, 
particularly the W4s, were much stronger... but no Europe at all.

Yesterday morning, I tried for 9M2AX again but he never got above about 
S2, and generally just barely audible but not copiable. He also faded 
into the noise yesterday some 45 - 60 minutes earlier than he did the 
morning before, and especially Tuesday morning, when I was still hearing 
him 30 mins after my sunrise. For me, he was gone a good half hour 
BEFORE sunrise here. I don't think DU7ET has been in there since my Tuesday.

W3HAC keeps spotting the 7Q6 a good half hour or more before my sunset, 
but I've never heard him yet. Apparently, he doesn't stick around for 
the W/K/VE west coast sunset times; I think his operating hours are 
limited by battery power??

> Remember, if you hear a DX station calling CQ, it's good to spot them on the
> DX Cluster, as this seems to encourage more stations to come on the band.

Usually, we do... but when we don't, it's because we DON'T hear them.

73,

Steve K0XP