I suspect that lack of receiving antennas is the most likely cause. I
noticed the same thing here on the East Coast when trying to work
Europeans. Some had very loud signals but couldn't hear very
well...requiring many, many repeats of the call sign. I thought it was
just me having a problem with the TX antenna, but then noticed that other
stations with even better set ups than mine were having the same difficulty
with the same stations.
However, I did notice that my beverages had very little effect early in the
contest, but by 0400 UTC were beginning to behave normally. Some weird
propagation was definitely at work. Heavy QSB at times didn't help
matters. Still, this is one fun contest!
73,
Ken K4XL
On Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 9:56 AM, Carl Luetzelschwab <
carlluetzelschwab@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi guys and gals,
>
> After walking Snoopy and going out for breakfast this morning, I got back
> on 160m around 1320z (8:20 AM local here in Ft Wayne - about a half hour
> past our sunrise). Between 1324z and 1340z I worked AZ, CO and OR with
> decent signals on my SAL-20 Shared Apex Loop.
>
> I also heard quite a few other West Coast stations, but they kept CQing in
> my face. It could be they have a noise problem or it could be a propagation
> issue (since we don't fully understand all the interesting things that
> happen on 160m).
>
> But it also could be those stations were listening to the west with their
> directional receive antennas, not towards the east since it was daylight
> here. If this was the case, be sure to take a listen back towards the east
> every once in a while. With the Sun in the southern hemisphere, ionospheric
> absorption is minimal on the mid to high latitude northern hemisphere
> paths.
>
> I hope to work some of you tomorrow morning!
>
> Carl K9LA
> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>
--
Ken - K4XL
BoatAnchor Manual Archive
BAMA - http://bama.edebris.com
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