Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
Correction on the opening time typo ( still tired ). It was from 0251z to 0623z ( not 0215z ). From: Topband on behalf of Brian Campbell Sent: January 30, 2023 9:24 AM To: Don Kirk ; Michael Tope Cc: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2 This enhancement also happened in SW Ontario. I was also LP ( unassisted ) so as I S'd I would enter each call into the bandmap ( dupe or not ) to keep track of what trace was who so I could pop back between runs to try and grab the unworked ones. At about 0215z all the EU traces I was watching on the bandmap suddenly got noticeably stronger - and then shortly after that happened EU started calling me on my run QRG. EU Sigs went from ~S1 to ~S5 and the opening lasted to 0623z. During that time I put 24 10 pointers ( from 12 DXCC ) in the log between running NA stations. I agree it was a real good shot of adrenaline at the time. 73 Brian VE3MGY From: Topband on behalf of Don Kirk Sent: January 30, 2023 7:46 AM To: Michael Tope Cc: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2 Hi Michael, It was a very interesting opening (band improvement) into parts of Europe from here in Indiana at the same times you mentioned. I just looked at my contest log and something special started happening around 0500 UTC Sunday morning which lasted until approximately 0730 UTC (but really great between 0500 and 0630 UTC). What's also interesting is that signals into the West Coast of the US and also into Hawaii really improved from Indiana during that time period. That's why I hate leaving my operating chair for any length of time during 160 meter contests as conditions are so unpredictable. I knew something special was happening when European stations started calling my little 100 watt station, and that's exactly what happened this time around. What a blast of adrenaline. P.S. I did not really notice European sunrise enhancement either night from here in Indiana. A YL station called me at 0514 UTC and that was 1.3 hours before his sunrise and that's when the fun began. 73, Don (wd8dsb) On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 3:25 AM Michael Tope wrote: > There was a decent opening from here in Southern California to Europe on > Saturday night around 0500 UTC that lasted approximately two and a half > hours. > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
This enhancement also happened in SW Ontario. I was also LP ( unassisted ) so as I S'd I would enter each call into the bandmap ( dupe or not ) to keep track of what trace was who so I could pop back between runs to try and grab the unworked ones. At about 0215z all the EU traces I was watching on the bandmap suddenly got noticeably stronger - and then shortly after that happened EU started calling me on my run QRG. EU Sigs went from ~S1 to ~S5 and the opening lasted to 0623z. During that time I put 24 10 pointers ( from 12 DXCC ) in the log between running NA stations. I agree it was a real good shot of adrenaline at the time. 73 Brian VE3MGY From: Topband on behalf of Don Kirk Sent: January 30, 2023 7:46 AM To: Michael Tope Cc: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2 Hi Michael, It was a very interesting opening (band improvement) into parts of Europe from here in Indiana at the same times you mentioned. I just looked at my contest log and something special started happening around 0500 UTC Sunday morning which lasted until approximately 0730 UTC (but really great between 0500 and 0630 UTC). What's also interesting is that signals into the West Coast of the US and also into Hawaii really improved from Indiana during that time period. That's why I hate leaving my operating chair for any length of time during 160 meter contests as conditions are so unpredictable. I knew something special was happening when European stations started calling my little 100 watt station, and that's exactly what happened this time around. What a blast of adrenaline. P.S. I did not really notice European sunrise enhancement either night from here in Indiana. A YL station called me at 0514 UTC and that was 1.3 hours before his sunrise and that's when the fun began. 73, Don (wd8dsb) On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 3:25 AM Michael Tope wrote: > There was a decent opening from here in Southern California to Europe on > Saturday night around 0500 UTC that lasted approximately two and a half > hours. > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
Hi Michael, It was a very interesting opening (band improvement) into parts of Europe from here in Indiana at the same times you mentioned. I just looked at my contest log and something special started happening around 0500 UTC Sunday morning which lasted until approximately 0730 UTC (but really great between 0500 and 0630 UTC). What's also interesting is that signals into the West Coast of the US and also into Hawaii really improved from Indiana during that time period. That's why I hate leaving my operating chair for any length of time during 160 meter contests as conditions are so unpredictable. I knew something special was happening when European stations started calling my little 100 watt station, and that's exactly what happened this time around. What a blast of adrenaline. P.S. I did not really notice European sunrise enhancement either night from here in Indiana. A YL station called me at 0514 UTC and that was 1.3 hours before his sunrise and that's when the fun began. 73, Don (wd8dsb) On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 3:25 AM Michael Tope wrote: > There was a decent opening from here in Southern California to Europe on > Saturday night around 0500 UTC that lasted approximately two and a half > hours. > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
There was a decent opening from here in Southern California to Europe on Saturday night around 0500 UTC that lasted approximately two and a half hours. Over the course of the opening, I heard stations from 9A, OM, YU, S5, DL, PA, G, GW, E7, and GJ. I was able make QSOs with DL and GJ (and I had a maybe with E7). I was hoping that similar circumstances would materialize for the Sunday morning opening to Asia. When I heard K0DI in Florida work a JA station, I became even more convinced that we were in for a JA bonanza later in the morning. Unfortunately it was a huge bust. It was as if someone dropped a huge D-layer cloud over Japan. Strangely enough, several BY stations seemed to be unaffected by the poor propagation, in particular, BY4SZ who had a massive signal in Southern California. Unfortunately, he was hearing impaired. I think W6YA might have gotten through to him, but I certainly didn't. I heard one DU station, but he also couldn't hear me. Never take propagation from granted on Topband :-) 73, Mike W4EF.. On 1/29/2023 12:51 PM, Tree wrote: Could have been band conditions not working very well. Felt like a thick cold blanket was on top of the band last night. This morning - normally very loud stations in MT were just regular signals - not much stronger than BY4SZ. Only managed one JA QSO with JH4UYB this morning. JA3YBK could not hear me. Band was quiet - but very attenuated. Surprised however to work 3W1T right at sunrise and 4F2KWT before that. Heard a few other DU's but they were not hearing me. Tree N6TR / K7RAT On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 12:37 PM Jim Brown wrote: On 1/29/2023 9:25 AM, w3...@roadrunner.com wrote: had to run the 52' vertical- 0.25 wave 160m INV-L against a single ground rod. But it works quite well, even so. It wasn't "working quite well" when you were buried in my noise last night. We worked, but it wasn't easy. Thanks for the QSO. 73, Jim K9YC _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
Could have been band conditions not working very well. Felt like a thick cold blanket was on top of the band last night. This morning - normally very loud stations in MT were just regular signals - not much stronger than BY4SZ. Only managed one JA QSO with JH4UYB this morning. JA3YBK could not hear me. Band was quiet - but very attenuated. Surprised however to work 3W1T right at sunrise and 4F2KWT before that. Heard a few other DU's but they were not hearing me. Tree N6TR / K7RAT On Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 12:37 PM Jim Brown wrote: > On 1/29/2023 9:25 AM, w3...@roadrunner.com wrote: > > had to run the 52' vertical- 0.25 wave 160m > > INV-L against a single ground rod. But it works quite well, even so. > > It wasn't "working quite well" when you were buried in my noise last > night. We worked, but it wasn't easy. Thanks for the QSO. > > 73, Jim K9YC > _ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
On 1/29/2023 9:25 AM, w3...@roadrunner.com wrote: had to run the 52' vertical- 0.25 wave 160m INV-L against a single ground rod. But it works quite well, even so. It wasn't "working quite well" when you were buried in my noise last night. We worked, but it wasn't easy. Thanks for the QSO. 73, Jim K9YC _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
Re: Topband: CQWW160: Night 2
Not so many Euros into Ohio in the same 2200-0200z time frame. But as the evening wore one , a few more were heard, but still tough sledding to work them. Many QRZ's and my partial call heard but then they reverted to CQing giving up on trying to pull me through. Now this year for the second straight year I failed to get my 26 radials unfurled, and had to run the 52' vertical- 0.25 wave 160m INV-L against a single ground rod. But it works quite well, even so. Often into Eu and sometimes VK/JA. But I have to think those radials do something, so my low angle radiation must be suffering at least a tiny bit. But domestically it doesnt seem to matter much in the usual contests. (Memo to me: put out the radials next November!) This morning I slid into the CQ Contest mode and got the QSOs up to 425 in 10 hours OTA, worked all states but AK and ND. And finished with 25 DX entities. But in general sigs werent strong enough to work enough of the delicious Euro multipliers to approach an alltime best score ( like a couple years back with great Euro openings!) However, the band was free of powerline noise, had no QRN, so listening was easier on the ears. One humorous event. I was on a good run when the keyclicks from filtering out a strong adjacent channel signal got to be annoying, so I slid up a hundred cycles or so and it disappeared. But a couple of qsos later it was back. So I slid up another 100 cycles and it went away. for a couple of qsos. After the third QSY I gave up, figuring the guy was doing the same thing. :) - _ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
