I'll throw in my experiences during the contest this weekend.
I spent much more time than usual picking out the weak
signals from the band. The Shorty Beverages were working,
but the absorption was high. The transmitting antenna (with
attenuator bringing the signal levels down to the same level
as the Beverages) was too noisy to use for any but the very
loudest stations, probably due to the rainstorms to our South.
After each CQ, we would select one of the eight Beverages
and try to pick out a weak signal.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the other states in the north
seemed to be covered with an absorptive shield, especially
on the first night. Looking at the Aurora
(http://sec.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapN.gif) may show part
of the story. (This is a current display, but the influence was
also down over the northern part of the USA over the
weekend).
Despite this, we worked as many European multipliers as we
normally do, with nine European multipliers between 0458Z
and 0619Z the first night, all as responses to our CQ. The
second night wasn't as good here, with no new European
multipliers. Good representation from the Caribbean and South
America, two VKs the second morning, and no JAs at all.
Conditions that are described as "lousy" for the East and West
coasters usually results in us doing better in the Midwest in
the overall results. This year seems to be one of those!
(Was W8JI a Multi-Op this year?)
Jeff Maass K8ND
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