Worked XZ0A this morning at 1207z! I spent 40 minutes
listening to him on 80m cw but he was not very loud here in NW South
Carolina. We had a MAJOR ice storm here and my SSB 75m verticals had an SWR
of 3:1 due to the ice coating but were flat on CW . I figured this was
Mother Nature's way of helping me work them on 80m cw.! I was waiting for
his signal to get better when I saw AA1K's spot about working them on 160m.
I don't have much confidence on that band and almost ignored the spot but
then decided to give a listen. What a surprise! His 160m signal was MUCH
better than his 80m signal! He was an honest 559 on my Southwest Beverage
(210d) and the band seemed much quieter than 80 meters. A couple of calls
later and he was in the log. I never thought that I'd work zone 26 on 160m
in my lifetime. I'll have to start paying more attention to 160m spots now
that I have some confidence that I can work stuff on that band. Geez, the
shunt fed tower does work......
73 Ken, N4UK
P.S. I've been wondering if the guys on 80 may not know to beam their
4-square for long path (SW during their morning openings or SE during
their evening openings). It wouldn't surprise me and may account for their
80 meter signal being so much weaker than their single vertical on 160...
3W5FM was much stronger on 80 a few weeks ago and was using a single
vertical on both bands...de W4ZV
de W4ZV
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