I was on a few minutes before 23:00 ut looking for contacts. i was only
able to use one hand, so I was glad no re arranging of shack things was
needed. I checked the packrats beacon and it was quite steady and a bit
louder than usual. it was moving the s-meter last night. activity was
quite good and I ended up with 36 qsos with 35 stations. i worked WA1T
with his regular setup and then he called again with his Quansheng on
dsb. he was walking around his house using that little rubber duckie
antenna. I worked about the same station list as GB Ron WZ1V, but I
missed N1ROZ, K3SK, and W2TMA. I don't have the log in front of me, so
am not sure who else I nabbed, but I did try with K9MRI and after 15
minutes we still did not have a contact, so we quit. That was unusual,
but normally, Joe hears me a lot. This time, I heard him often at the
start. I got full calls before I could even type in his call in the WSJT
call box!. I tried FT8 with K3SK but nil heard. We attempted a Q65
sked, but I was late getting there, so that did not work. It was quite
busy with all sorts of signals around the NE. I did work KJ1K over on
the side of Mt Greylock, but Sigurd's rig was complaining loudly and he
had to repeat everything a few times as he was cutting out with all
sorts of burbling sounds. I tried a sked with W7JW in Michigan using
meteors and we worked in about 15 minutes.
Signals were generally good but I noted that W1XR in FM19 and WA3DRC in
FM28 were not as loud as typically heard. I suspect thunderstorms in the
path. They churn up things. N2JMH in eastern NY was very loud on FT8. I
think the little WSJT readout said +31. Such levels can melt some steel
alloys. WA3EOQ at 500 miles was an easy contact too. I copied Howard
right off and we had a quick contact. I heard Pete K1PXE call him right
after. I hope Pete got him then as he was complaining about getting
stomped on all evening! Pete was pretty good copy as I heard him off the
back of his beam and he is 185 miles away. K2RMX was loud all evening.
WC2K was blasting in with his amp in line. I tried with WG3K but heard
nil. I missed W3IP, who got on a bit late. K3TUF was not in my log
either. The bottom line was that there were plenty of signals and it was
easy to miss a few as the activity level was quite high. I did note that
W5EME and AAJ6T worked on FT8 over a 492 mile path. Walt AJ6T is running
about 30 watts I think. That is an incredible distance. I keep thinking
about the Mississippi Valley propagation. Corn and soy bean crops can
produce lots of moisture into the air.I wonder if corn has anything to
do with their great success?
I am hoping to be on for the 222 and up contest. I threw 12 gallons of
diesel in the tank just for that purpose! My two bands are 222 and
432. There was one Earth directed CME that hit at 00:00 UT on the 30th,
but nothing after that. The K index went to 5 for a short period then.
Kp of 5-6 is predicted for July 31 and August 1, so keep monitoring for
a possible storm and maybe some VHF aurora. I am not holding my breath,
but you can never be sure.
73
Dave K1WHS
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