Early Tuesday evening, at about 2400 GMT I worked Steve HUZ on 7160 kHz until the band went long and I lost him at 0030 right in the middle of a transmission - just as if he had flipped a power switch and dropped from 1 kw down to a few milliwatts. All in about 5 seconds. But the whole time, no broadcast QRM. My antenna is an 80m dipole, fed with open wire tuned feeders, average height 110' off the ground.
At 0630 GMT I ran my automated CQ on 7160, and had Sergio, IT9QJM come back to me on slopbucket. He said I was S7 to S9 and perfectly readable, although there was a language barrier. I should have tried out my rusty Italian! He did understand that I was on AM. He said he was using a homebrew transceiver. He also said he was running only 10 watts to a half wave dipole! He was not pinning my S-meter by any means, but he was perfectly readable, well above the background noise. There had been an English-speaking Bible Beater on frequency earlier (from South Africa, I believe), but it had shut down and I didn't hear any other broadcast on the frequency. No amateur slopbucket QRM either. Hearing a 10 watt SSB station that well, and being heard at up to S9 with approximately 300 watts carrier output, leads me to believe that transatlantic AM should be a breeze whenever band conditions are half way decent. I would say the best time to try would be between 0430 and 0630 GMT. Maybe earlier as the days get longer. If most of the broadcast stations really do go away, T/A QSO's should be possible all evening long. As Tom, K1JJ pointed out, as long as it's dark or within an hour of darkness in both locations, the USA-EuropeDX can be worked. The Euros on 40M should be workable any time from OUR own local sunset to perhaps two hours before our own local sunrise, depending on season. USA stations can be heard working them throughout that time, which varies depending on the season. Tom says he has worked Europeans even though they are a couple hours past their sunrise. The problem is on both sides of the pond, people tend to sleep between 12 midnight and 4AM local time. But this could be a window of opportunity for the night-owls who are still up at the bewitching hour of 3 AM local time, because of the lack of QRM. I predict a reduction in broadcast QRM, but that it won't go away entirely. Already, there are big holes in the broadcast QRM, below and above 7200. The most significant change is that amateurs outside Region 2 (the Americas) will once again have use of 7100-7200 after more than a half century. European and American hams will have exclusive or at least primary use of the segment, while those in other parts of the world will have access at least on a shared basis. British, Spanish and Italian hams are already active on the new frequencies, and Ireland, Netherlands and France are supposed to gain access on the 29th (supposedly along with the rest of Europe). PE1MPH reported vacant broadcast channels on the following frequencies: 7130 7145 7155 7160 7185 7190 7195 He suggests maybe 7160 and 7185-7195, although the broadcasters change frequencies all the time. One of the significant aspects of the 29 March date is that's about the time of the normal seasonal shift in international broadcast frequencies anyway, so mandating the changes on this daty may enhance compliance. On this side of the Atlantic, here is a quick snapshot of what I heard on 40m on the 1st of March, listening with the 900' beverage that is generally directional towards Europe. I started to scan the band a few minutes before 0300 GMT. Between 7100 and 7200 I heard broadcast carriers on the following frequencies: 7120 7125 7150 7155 7165 7175 7190 7200 At 0300 on the dot, the 7200 station closed down. I continued to scan above 7200. Broadcast carriers were on the following frequencies: 7205 7225 7235 7245 7250 7255 7260 7265 7275 7280 7290 7295 Then I re-scanned 7100-7200, because stations often start up or close down at the top of the hour. BC stations were heard on: 7105 7110 7130 (very weak) 7150 7165 Amateur SSB was heard on only a couple of frequencies between 7200-7300. Dozens of slopbuckets were audible on vacant frequencies between 7100-7200. A few Europeans, mostly Italians were heard amongst them, some quite strapping. No amateur AM was heard at all. On the 9th of March, Steve WB3HUZ reported: Freq (kHz) BC Station Signal Strength 7125 Y 5/9+20 7130 Y Very Weak 7135 N 7140 Y Very Weak 7145 N 7150 N 7155 N 7160 N 7165 Y Very Weak 7170 N 7175 N 7180 Y Very Weak 7185 Y Very Weak 7190 N 7195 Y Very Weak 7200 Y 5/9+10 Don k4kyv _______________________________________________________________ This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout. http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/ http://gigliwood.com/abcd/ ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Post: [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the message body. This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
