Eric (K3NA) wrote about the frustration of waiting for the Europeans
to notice him on 15 before the band really opens up all the way.
It's very interesting when we get a european sunrise opening on 15. In
the ARRL there's not much action (as you might guess) because nobody
is on 15 looking for Ws at 0500-0800.
In the CQWW you might guess that it would be a lot like Eric described,
with the europeans mostly ignoring us because their antennas are in
other directions, but that's not the way it is. Many of the callers
express their suprise at hearing me, and a lot of them ask whether I'm
beaming long or short path (it's always short path). But, when I ask
them how my signal and frequency are, they always report that I'm loud
and in the clear. I take this to mean that until the Ws show up in
force around 1100Z that 15 just isn't all that crowded, and that I'm
hearing most all of the signals that are on the band (imagine the
chances of coming on the band blind at 1400Z and finding yourself on
a clear frequency). Do you suppose this means that your frustration
at being able to only work a few stations very early in the opening is
due more to a real lack of propagation than to a lack of looking for Ws?
Maybe if all the europeans had antennas capable of a 2 degree takeoff,
your runs would start earlier.
It would be interesting if some of the europeans in the group would describe
how the beginning of the W opening on 15 sounds to them (along with a
mention of whether they are using a tribander at 10 meters or a monobander
at 50 meters).
Ron WA6DGX
debry@sb.fsu.edu
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