Topband: Equinox EU DX season report at VE6WZ

[Bill Tippett]

Hi Steve et al,

In the ~20 years I was active from ~40N in Colorado, I noticed some
conditions that remind me of your description.  To understand these
comments it helps to look at a great circle map like DX Atlas with Auroral
zones (including variable K-indices) superposed on the direct path.  I
especially noticed some conditions when stations above the auroral rings
(e.g. UA1OT in FJL) were much stronger than they "should" have been
compared with more southerly EU areas.  One simple explanation was that my
signal only needed to traverse one short part of the Au zone for my signal
path whereas other EU areas would need to go through the zone for greater
distances (or maybe even twice) implying higher absorption.  This could
also explain the differences to JA that W7RH noted versus you.  Because of
his southerly location, his signal could completely avoid the zone whereas
you might be in the area where it was more tangential to the zone and
therefore had greater absorption.  If you have DX Atlas, spend a little
time looking at the direct signal paths with various levels of K-indices
superposed on the Great Circle maps.

Another possibly related issue I sometimes noticed was that Northern EU
signals could be skewed southwards from their normal paths during high Au
activity.

Sorry I haven't been very active since the 4W8X expedition but I
still occasionally check this list.  I need motivation from some "new ones"
to fix my RX/TX systems damaged by lightning and poor maintenance.

73 to all,

Bill  W4ZV