Hello George
Thanks for the excellent summary. I was only able to listen in on two
sun rises here in Maine. Nov 8th and 10th. I had limited time on the
8th and heard KH8/AA7JV weakly with times that the signal dropped below
Q5 or disappeared entirely. I called a few times and figured I would not
make it seeing there were many many callers. I had to leave early for
some tower work. I used my SW and West beverages for listening. (225 and
260 degrees) That direction worked on the 8th. I tried again on the
10th and found the pile of callers, but could not detect KH8/AA7JV at
1100 UT. After a few minutes I could tell that something was there,
but I was still wondering how my beverage antenna was not working, while
other NE stations were calling you. I had just spent two weeks working
in the woods to fix all the chewed RG6 coax and broken bev wires! Then
I happened to switch to my 330 degree beverage aimed at JA, and you were
coming in great on that wire! I was a bit rusty on the 160 game as it
has been many months since I even listened on the band. I needed to be
re trained on working the HF rig too. This past summer has been spent on
amplifier projects and 222 and 432 MHz DXing entirely.
Once I found you, it was easy, but I really need a new call that does
not have all those dits in it. Everybody can copy the K1W but it ends
there. If you are not familiar with my call, the rest of those dits get
hard to decipher when sigs are weak. I am too old to change it now. The
change in arrival azimuth was very interesting. Normal heading for me is
about 270 degrees to American Samoa. The Friday path was heavily skewed
to the North as I only heard you on a 330 degree beverage. A 290 degree
beverage azimuth was quiet with no signal detected. Strength was very
similar to Nov 8th and on the weak side. Enough jabbering for now. I
have more beverage repair issues to attend to. Thanks for taking the
time and effort to operate from KH8. Good luck down the line.
Dave K1WHS
On 11/11/2023 5:56 AM, GEORGE WALLNER wrote:
Hello TopBanders,
Many thanks for all those who called.
We were on the air 8 nights. We had a good 160/80 m vertical with top
loading and salt-water ground. Time was split between 80 and 160
meters. Conditions on 160 were often so poor that time was better
spent giving out KH8 on 80 meters. Nevertheless, the main effort went
into 160, with 600 QSO-s (plus dupes), vs 350 on 80.
Conditions were the best the first night. Although we had generator
noise, the Flex radio's noise blanker dealt with it. Anyway,
conditions were so good that it mattered little.
The following is from memory:
I started calling for EU around 0530 (Nov 03) with no signs of EU
callers. NA started to come in with some strong (S8) signals around
0600 Z. A short while later JA-s appeared with even better signals
(S9+), while NA-s were getting weaker. Starting around 1400 Z, eastern
European stations "R and U" started coming in. Most signals were very
week but a few were were strong around S5. I have worked a total of
34 stations. But nothing further west than the Ukraine.
The weekend nights were very poor. Zero EU either at my SS or SR. Both
NA and JA-s were weak but plentiful.
Propagation started to improve by Monday night, but there was now a
lot of TS noise. (It is almost summer here.) Tuesday night (Wed AM in
EU) around 1650, just before their SR, I listened for and managed to
work two CT stations. Barely. Their signals popped out of the noise at
their SR. No EU was worked around my SR (1500 to 1700 Z).
The next night, soon after my SS, I heard one caller form EU for about
10 minutes with QSB, but it was too weak to work. Then suddenly,
between 1612 and 1626, I worked four S. EU stations in a row. They had
suspiciously clear (but not too strong) signals, they all sounded the
same with the same operator style, and they all showed a strange
delay, noticeable because it was the same for all four of them. They
sounded similar to good NA signals. Hmm...
On Thursday night (our last night) conditions were much better. I
worked one EU at my SS, then the usual NA and JA (plus other far
east). Starting about three hours before my SR central Siberian
stations were calling with some very good signals (S6). Later there
were a few good signals (S4) form the UA3 region, but then almost
suddenly, any signal coming from further west was much weaker, some at
ESP level. This was may be all due to the attenuation of signals
travelling through (or around) the auroral oval. The difference was
very distinct. (I have spent 6 to 8 hours each of the past 8 nights
listening to 160 m signals and noise. After a while you get a feel for
them.)
Summary: EU contacts from KH8 at SS and SR were possible but mostly
difficult. Some contacts were suspicious but most sounded legit.
Nothing west of the Ukraine, except S. EU. The entire swath from
Poland to the UK was missing (polar path). During the entire time, 80
was more like 160.
Top-Band Strikes Again,
TKS and 73,
George,
AA7JV
PS: Signal strength comparison over many days on a TB DXpedition are
influenced by the tendency of strongest stations being worked on the
first few nights, with progressively weaker stations as time goes
on. Nevertheless, this distribution is not absolute and a reasonable
estimate of changing conditions is possible.
We will post the log on Clublog soon and then LoTW in a couple of
weeks' time.
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