A few weeks ago I was listening to a JA station during our sunrise. This
station was very loud before sunrise. I listened to him until he finally faded
away a full 2 hours plus after my sunrise. He remained very loud right up til
the last I heard with a rapid fade away. It was fully bright sunshine here.
W6EL prop says that is over 5000 miles from here. I did not try for a 2 way
though I have no reason to believe it would not have worked as he was very
strong s-9. He was working DX on the other side of the world I could not hear.
Yes, we do not understand all the things that make propagation on top-band.
Just last night the band opened huge to Europe for me after a 2 week dead
silence. For many days previous all the A,K, and aurora indexes were way down
but still no prop. Interestingly enough there was a spike in the x-ray flux and
bingo I got propagation. I also got an e-mail advising of a CME from the sun
and a sunspot about to emerge from a blank sun. Do I think this i
s the answer? No it just means I need to keep listening for when it happens. I
used to think I could never transmit right through a really bad aurora index
until one day I had a fantastic Qso to S59A right through it (indications from
my directional RX antennas) with s-9 signals.
I like what Carl K9LA said. It probably wont be in our lifetime that we
finally learn top-band propagation secrets. Till then keep trying if your ears
can stand it.
Lee K7TJR HNY all
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