Roger and group,
It's not your imagination, activity on CW has been very low. Add to that
propagation has been absolutely horrid all season from a left coast
perspective. While some northern folks have been able to get a hop under
the aurora curtain it just is not possible from my Arizona location. I
can appreciate the joy of the eastern stations working EU. Out west it's
our equivalent of working the east coast. 4000 km vs. 8000 km.
The last two openings that were very good were in mid and late December.
Since that time I have had only 4 EU QSOs. Meanwhile only a _few JA,UA0
and HL5IVL_ have been active. XX9D has been on in the morning with great
SR signal but due to location and antenna restrictions his noise level
is not penetrable. The trans-equatorial path has been quite good here.
VK3IO solid S9 and V84SAA S9 both near sunrise this morning. They all
have been worked leaving nothing else to do. There are only limited
number of stations active the western pacific and all of those are
15,000 km away!
I have joined the group of K7ZV, W0FLS, AA0RS, N7XM and K0RF calling CQ
with no response inside JA window morning after morning. Even
propagation to JA has been spotty, with little activity. Add to that
I've worked one new entity this winter. Guess what? QSL direct only. The
unmarked envelope with card and green stamps was pilfered in the mail.
As always I'll be a Top Band die hard as well. I retired in February
2017 and listen almost everyday at Sun rise and Sunset. Changing the
active aurora is beyond my powers no matter how much effort in antenna
system or even power for the matter.
CU all on top band. The ARRL DX CW contest is really the last
opportunity from out west. By and large the worst top band season I've
seen in a long time....
73
Bob, W7RH
Bob, W7RH
--
W7RH DM35os
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our
humanity." - Albert Einstein
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