> I can honestly say that condx for the first 8 hours or so were the
> worst I've ever heard for DX. 20M was it, and stations which usually
> make my s-meter light up as the pointer pins at full scale only wiggled
> it a bit. Running 100W, it was harder than it usually is with QRP.
>
> Around 4PM ET someone must have sprinkled pixie dust from the MIR, because
> all of a sudden things came alive for us at latitude N45.
Down here at the 31st parallel, we were treated to a brief 10M opening
to Spain/Portugal not long after the contest began.
There was the usual EU opening on 15M about that same time and a few Es
as well, none of which were very exciting, and dried up by noon local.
Overall 10 and 15 were pretty dismal. With SF=67 that's to be expected,
but also the sporadic E was, well, real sporadic. I'll forgive Mr. E
if he'll come out and play for NAQP, though.
20M and 40M were their usual rockin' selves. Summer means higher
nighttime MUFs to EU and JA and that's nice.
80M was MUCH better than it was for WPX CW, with QRN only running
S7 or so compared to the usual S9+ this time of year. I wish I had
spent more time there hunting mults instead of running mostly
one-pointers on 40M.
-- Ray, WQ5L
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