Hello Topbanders,
Finally 160 is coming alive.
Last night (Sep 25) I was operating as E51D/MM, at anchor in Suwarrow Atoll,
North Cook Islands (AH86).
Starting at 0925 the only signal on the band was K1ZM. He had a solid 579.
Until about 10:00 I had a few callers with very weak signals, just above the
noise (on the TX vertical). Then at 10:04 W7DT came in with a solid 589
signal with a pronounced echo, that sounded like it was coming from the
bottom of a well. Many subsequent callers were S6 to S7 and by 10:30 some
were S9. The echo went away by 10:10 and most copy was a true 5. It was
amazing to hear signals going from barely above the noise to S8 in less than
5 minutes.
Very encouraging!
E51D will be QRV (from land) next week from Penhryn Atoll. We will be on 160
at NA SR starting around 10:00. Will also try for EU starting around 0430.
73,
George,
AA7JV
_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
|