Let me recount a very strange DXpedition story about the when to quit 160 in
the morning.
On the 2009 VK9GMW, Mellish Reef DXpedition I was on160 every morning from
about 3 AM until past SR, whenever we . I started working UA9-s, then as the
terminator moved west UA8, UA6 then UA3. LZ, YO, SP, HA, OE and DL and
occasionally F and maybe one or two G. We were trying to work as far west as
possible, trying for GW or even EI, so stayed on well past SR at 0550, or
so. While making Q-s, I was looking out the open flap of the tent and every
morning I saw a group of boobies landing and engaging in some ritual -- kind
of a funny dance. It was the same every morning, the birds would land and
start their dance. After a few days I noticed that whenever the dance ended
-- sometime around 0620 -- the band closed, This to virtually to the minute.
When the birds stopped dancing propagation to W. EU was cut off. Not once
did I hear a caller form W. EU after the birds stopped dancing. We were
on the reef for 30 days and as SR shifted the birds shifted their arrival
and ritual. They were very reliable!
It is very hard on a DXpedition to resist the pressure to move onto 80 or
40, where productivity is much better.
73,
George
On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:32:31 -0800 Jim Brown wrote:
On 11/22/2024 1:21 PM, Eric Scace K3NA wrote:
It was interesting to see the delay from when 160m closed in the morning… to 80m CW
closing… and then finally 75m SSB. The 10%+ difference in frequency between 80m CW and
75m SSB was obvious.
Thanks for posting about this, Eric. Far too many DXers, contesters, and
DXpeditioners fail to have a clue about enhanced propagation on the daylight
side of the terminators -- that is, both sunrise and sunset.
On 160, it's typically 30-40 minutes, about an hour on 80, about 2 hours on 40.
I've lost a LOT of shots at difficult Qs with expeditions who abandoned a band
at the first sign of sun in the morning, or to go to the band before sunset.
73, Jim K9YC
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