Perhaps it's that the propagation numbers are, at the very best, general indicators and mean absolutely nothing about the propagation at any given time or place?
That's been the experience of those who explore conditions since the "Heaviside" layer was discovered. Clearly, you had some effective short skip going. That's not a bit unusual over a 600 mile "hop" like you had. Short skip on 20 is much more prevalent in the summer time when ionization levels are substantially higher, thanks to the earlier sunrise. And such skip often has a lot of "scattering" effect. You didn't mention your precise antenna, but many beams have significant side lobes. Not nearly as strong as the main lobe, but plenty strong enough for just such contacts. Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- OK, I'd like an explanation why Kevin was 599 here today on 20m, and very loud the last few weeks, and before, I almost never actually heard him and depended on Tom for a QNI. This afternoon, Kevin was pushing S9+ with my beam at 070 towards Tom, Kevin is sort of due north of me, maybe 600 - 650 miles. SFI=65 [about as low as it can get]; A=8; K=2. What is going on? 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the 2008 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 08 - www.cqp.org _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
