I went out into the parking lot at work at 1:15 p.m. Central Time and tried listening with my car radio to 650, 750 and 1510. I am about 40 miles west of Chicago. With the car omni directional antenna it was a bust. locals on 750 and QRM from 670. I had my GE Superadio and Grundig Yachtboy rx. I can normally null 670 with the Superadio loopstick but for some reason was unable to this time. Must have been my location. I had better luck on 160 and 75 with the Yachtboy and telescoping antenna. On the low end of 160 the "Solar Eclipse QSO Party" was going on and I copied K5NA in Texas and WD5R in Arkansas on 1822 and 1816 respectively. That was around the time of maximum solar coverage here, 1:20 p.m. Heard what must have been that AM bulletin station in Missouri on 1860 but the guy running it didn't ID much--He should have been running an ID every 30 seconds or less. For about 3 or 4 minutes he was solid copy then suddenly faded into the noise before I could get a confirmed ID. Tuned across 80 m. On 75, Heard some SSB and WB8UHZ working K8ATV on 3880 and WB8BFS on 3885. No CW. By then it was around 1:35 and I shut it all down and went back to work. I'd say that for summer conditions and the way the low bands have been in the daytime, this was unusual daytime propagation and the eclipse must have had something to do with it. I may have heard WLAC on 1510 from Nashville but didn't get an ID. Heard from a fellow down near Nashville who reported copying a number of Chicago clears down there plus KMOX and WTAM if I remember right.
Rob K5UJ _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
