Topband: The Stew Perry Low Band Jack/solar conditions on 160m
G’day It was great fun to do the Low Band Jack over the weekend. Conditions were very spotty/spotlighty, typical from here at this point in the solar cycle. Only 15 QSOs in the log, with two Aussies (VK6GX and VK3IO, the latter of who would have been more active but for high QRN), eight Europeans and five USA. Several W5 stations were heard at S5/6 but neither Phil or I could raise them, suggesting either one-way prop or receive antennas pointing away from us. As Phil VK6GX warned me before the LBJ, there was nothing heard west of the Rockies, with the skip going out as far as K1LT in eastern OH and K0DI in FL. This type of prop has been present recently, during Phil’s regular visits to 160m. My 160m signal/reception isn’t as good as it used to be, owing to swapping the single-band inverted vee dipole at 90 feet into a inverted-U doublet at 50 feet, which also functions as a Half Square on 80m and is a super DX antenna for contesting. I was very interested to read Steve VE6WZ’s reports on how DX contacts over the North Pole have diminished for him, as solar activity has increased. In VK6, most of our DX comes in from either the east/north east (USA/Caribbean) and west/north west (Europe/Africa). Polar propagation (N/S) is there for us at sunspot minimums but doesn’t result in much DX. Ironically for us here, often the rarest DX is worked relatively close to sunspot maximums, owing to being east-west in direction, where prop is generally encouraged by solar activity. Over the last 30 years, this has for me, for example, included 6Y5, ZF2, VP5, V3, CN, 3V8, 5A and SU. I was taught about this propagation ‘anomaly’ many years ago by Mike VK6HD (SK) and it seemed weird, until I looked at an azimuthal map of where the true directions of the various population centres were located from my relatively remote location. It is all about geography and geometry. Vy 73 Steve, VK6VZ Sent from Mail for Windows 10 -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Stew/Low Band Jack observations from down under
Hi Topbanders, I hope you enjoyed the Stew/LBJ contest as much as I did, despite less than stellar conditions and thanks to Tree and the Boring guys for organising the splendid event. Some observations on propagation during the Stew/LBJ from down under At the start of the contest I worked LY7M and LY2XW, both very weak with bad auroral flutter and QRN, making copy very difficult, nothing else doing, so a bit discouraged I took a 2 hours sleep break. On resumption at 0300 local, the auroral effects had dissipated and signals had improved, so I managed to log a few EU's, which were limited to eastern and northern countries, none further west or south than DL, except for MM0ZBH, 10 minutes after my SR, which was at 2127z. During the afternoon thunderstorms developed southeast of Perth, the first for several months, which didn't bode well for the evening session. After SS the local QRN combined with the continuing storms that continue to flood eastern VK, to make copy difficult, but I managed to work 8 east coast W's from MA down to FL plus MI, all were around S3/4. As the SR progressed across the states I heard almost nothing until W5 appeared around their SR, with half a dozen good signals around S5/6, but try as I may, none answered my calls. Then nothing until I heard AA6AA, who was peaking S7 at his SR and made it into my log. The only other west coast station I heard was a very steady S6, but could not hear my dozens of calls. I heard no VE's, only 2 JA's and worked one. There seemed to be very little activity from eastern VK, probably due to the severe QRN or being submerged in flood water. The only other VK's I know were active were Ron, VK3IO and Steve, VK6VZ. No ZL's heard either. Now can anyone answer me this? Why was it possible for me to work east coast W's who were all weaker than the W5's who couldn't hear me? Was it due to local QRN/QRM? Stronger stateside callers drowning me out? Or could it be that the east coast stations I worked may have had directional RX antennas looking west as their SR approached, looking to maximise their stateside contacts, but also favouring my general direction and were the W5's looking to the north and east for the same purpose, but in the process looking away from me? Was the strong west coast station, who did not hear my many calls, looking east? I'm not complaining, there would be little profit in listening for VK/ZL given the very few stations on air, despite the opportunity to gain many points per QSO. I'm just trying to understand why I had almost no luck trying to work the stronger stations west of the Mississippi. Any explanations welcome. Anyway, I hope to participate in the Big Stew, southern summertime QRN and propagation permitting! 73, Phil VK6GX. -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Topband: Stew Perry Contest on East Coast of VK
Hello Top Band Contesters. Conditions here on East Coast of VK were terrible. Mega lightning throughout the east coast. Very unseasonable weather for this time of year. Many of the possible Topband contesters (of which there are not many in VK) were probably recovering from storm damage and or flooding and were either unavailable or had everything disconnected. For me, it was not so bad at or before my sunrise. I got on at 1715utc and head nothing, except R3OM, who did not hear me. I went back to sleep. Woke up a bit late, just before my sun rise at 1915utc, but only heard DR5X, who had a reasonable signal, but who did not hear me, probably because he was using a beverage rx antenna not in my direction. DU7ET was calling CQ DX almost on the same frequency, so that made it difficult. I don't think Bob was in the contest, but we exchanged reports and I logged him anyway. I called LY7M, who had a good signal at 1920utc and we had an easy contest exchange. So I then called CQ Contest on 1824.5 and got a reply from DR5X at 1930utc who at this time was a stronger signal and then G3OQT, who was not so strong but we made a qso at 1933utc. I think the path to Europe was only open for a short time, as after 1940utc I did not hear anyone. Typical for this time of October. During our sunrise time I did not hear any other VK on cw on the band. During our evening, the QRN on the east coast was terrible and I had only one contest exchange with vk6vz. The VK6's were managing some qso's with USA, but for me it was impossible. So only 5 qso's for me in total, so I disconnected everything and that was it for me, until next time. Cheers, from Ron. vk3io. _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
