On Tue, 09 Dec 1997 David Blaschke <w5un@wt.net> writes:
>I see all the great openings being posted. Here near the Texas Gulf
>Coast it
>was line noise and no dx signals, even DF2PY was pitifully weak. I did
>hear all you calling the likes of A45ZN, TF3, etc., though.
>
>73, Dave - W5UN
..................................
Similar result here in north central Alabama
(20 miles South of Tennessee and 50 miles East of Mississippi)
I managed to work TF3DX but he was very difficult copy with lots of
QSB ranging from 449 at best to inaudible. Best copy was on a
500 ft unterminated wire at 30 degrees. Copy on my 900 ft
unterminated wire at 45 degrees was not as good. The 900 ft wire
brought in traces of A45ZN but too far down in the noise to copy.
I am beginning to wonder if the E-layer doesn't play a
role in increased path loss to the Sunbelt States.
Of course the NE states predominate to Europe, but I have been
in pileups where EVERY W0 on the band would beat me out to
Europe before I finally made contact. It is no surprise that the NE
states can run Europe while the rest of us run out to check our
antennas, but increasingly, I see NC and GA stations hearing
and working Europeans and Africans, giving good signal reports
of 559 to 579 while those stations are rarely or barely audible in
Alabama, especially in Septemter through November.
5A2A is one example. N4RJ in GA worked them early in the operation.
They were inauduble here, 339 at N4RJ and the NE states were raving
about his good signal. Near the end of the operation, everyone in GA
was calling and working them (569 reports) while they were still
inaudible in Alabama. Fortunately for me, about 30 minutes after the
GA opening, they started to build and answered my first call. They
finally built up to 569 for about 30 minutes.
Does anyone have any theories on why 160M signals from Europe
and Africa often fail to penetrate past the Eastern Time Zone?
de Tom N4KG
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