[UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC

[Nigel G3TXF]

Yes, there's more to this propagation stuff than anyone of us knows. Antenna
height, antenna orientation as well as the propagation must play a bigger
role than we suspect. G3WVG (aka G0AAA) is about five miles from me. And yet
we get remarkably different results in different CC's. Sometimes WVG is way
ahead. And sometimes, like last night, TXF is ahead. Being lucky with a
'good' frequency also makes a huge difference. Unusually for me I had just
such a frequency last night. The whole 90 minutes was spent CQing. As I
recall there were only two 'dull patches' when absolutely no-one came back
for four or five minutes. Otherwise it was a steady trickle.

73 - Nigel G3TXF

PS : Although the K3 is supposed to be the dream-radio for CW ops, seemingly
it isn't too bad on SSB either!



-----Original Message-----
From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Don Beattie
Sent: 03 February 2009 11:23
To: Uk-Contest at Contesting.Com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC

Yes, I too was puzzled, Malcolm. I was running my dipole at about 55 ft, and
found it really hard going here in Shropshire. I was kept pretty busy, but
with a lousy channel - I know there were callers I could not copy - and yet
by the end of the contest I was some 40 QSOs below the leaders. I think most
of these were in the South-East, so wonder if a relatively high density of
"local" stations helps in this contest ? It was noticeable that the Eu
stations (DJ and beyond) were very strong, but (for me) few in number. So
yes, skip was long, I think, and high-angle absorption was high.

Ended up with 132, but a real struggle to emulate the leaders.

73

Don, G3BJ


----- Original Message -----
From: "g3pdh" <g3pdh at btopenworld.com>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:50 AM
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] propagation SSB CC


> Does anyone have an explanation of last nights 80m CC conditions. From
> this
> area (Norwich) the band was just mushy noise with a few signals, mainly
> continental and a few G's. More noticeably the few G's heard could hardly
> hear me, as if one way paths existed, and despite this some were still
> exchanging relatively high numbers. It would be interesting to see some
> analysis of this phenomena as to whether it was propagation, antennae etc.
> All stations in our group did poorly despite running decent rigs and full
> size dipoles. Such conditions hardly seem to reflect text book theory.
>
> Malcolm G3PDH
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest

_______________________________________________
UK-Contest mailing list
UK-Contest at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest