The we are the primary North American DX season is over. There is still
lots of DX if stations would be active in southern hemisphere. For
myself it marks a few milestones worth noting. 2026 is the 20th year of
my remote operation from the Arizona QTH and my 50th year on 160m.
I do not share much with my buddy Steve VE6WZ in propagation. He is 1100
miles due north of me. I can work a huge number of Asian contacts that
Steve may not hear at all. The reverse is true for EU QSO's for me. In
fact I don't share a lot with NA7TB super station at 250miles SE of me
on the AZ/NM border. For the most part EU is pretty darned weak.
This season brought a few new ones in the log that I have missed because
of family and working years. There as usual were a half dozen short
openings to EU and I might comment I have never been skunked with none
worked in the last 20 season years.
My highlight of the season was 3Y0K on top band. I won't get into the
politics of that operation I will say the following.
Due to their operation of the southern side of Bouvet propagation for me
was at best a 15 minute gray line window. Toss in high population zone
activity, Caribbean and Gulf thunderstorms, geomagnetic activity and
time lines I was very happy to pull off 160m contacts in two modes.
These culminated on the last night of their operation on the island.
Kudos to UT6UD for his savy 160m band operation under difficult conditions!
Meanwhile J51 was workable almost every evening with with a rock solid
signal! The nuances are what make 160m operation so unique and
challenging!
For 2026 it's nice to see some posts on the reflector regarding actual
operation on the band. In hope that we cans stay healthy and make it
well into the next solar cycle minimum.
73
de Bob W7RH
--
W7RH DM35OJ
If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say
the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. George Carlin
“It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.”
― Albert Einstein
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