Topband: 160 condx during CQWW cw contest

[Ron Spencer]

Just read comments from G3YRO and others about the band condx during the contest. As I wrote earlier, Friday night from around 0300Z when I got back on (earlier, at start of contest, heard many EU stations but only 2 heard me) to around 0530Z the band was full of VERY loud EU stations. I didn't take a picture of the panadapter but recall many of the stations were 30dB or more above my noise floor. Worked most stations with 1 call. I can't recall a time I saw so many loud EU stations on. 



After 0530Z signals were back to what I consider normal. I have NO idea what caused the enhancement nor how wide spread it was. Since I've not read any other reports of it here I'm guessing its footprint was pretty small. 



I did call CQ during this time and have since received a couple emails about the contest. One from a DL who worked me with 5W and another from a PI that worked me with a dipole at 1M high. This should give you an idea of just how excellent the conditions were here. 



The receive antenna uses is a home brew, passive, 8 element circle array 320' in diameter. No preamp is used. 



Sure was a fun couple hours!



Ron

N4XD 



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