Conditions last night to Europe from here in Iowa were about as good as
they've been since the Stew Perry of four years ago. It was quite a
surprise, having heard hardly anything to speak of out of Europe so far this
season.
The evening started at 0505z with IK4WMA, who was just out of the noise. As
the evening progressed, conditions improved dramatically resulting in 23 EU
QSOs. LY2ZZ and ES1RA were new ones on topband. Signals kept getting
stronger as sunrise approached Europe. DF2PY, ON4WW, and OZ7YY all had
honest S8 to S9 signals. However, EA3VY topped the list for signal strength
at S9 to +10. I could unplug the receive 4 square (W8JI's design) from the
1000MP, plug in a 40' piece of wire in the basement, and still copy EA3VY
Q5! I did not attempt to call CQ due to the moderately high QRN levels due
to a small weather system that was approaching from the west. Had the QRN
not been present, I would have been able to work down to at least one more
level of stations. All in all, it was a remarkable evening, and certainly a
breath of fresh air compared to what we've had in Iowa.
73 and Happy New Year to all...Dave
W0FLS
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