Good report Steve!! I called CQ for an hour before sunrise this morning with no results. I do see that DU7ET was spotted by N7UA a few hours before sunrise. I think I could hear a trace of him at sunrise.
Tree N6TR PS: Preliminary results for the PreStew are up On Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 10:19 AM [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Last night I was able to log 5 EU on 160m CW. (This of course is the day > after the Stew contest which gave me no EU propagation!) > > At around 0200z, I checked my MW BCB recordings and had audio from > Talksport UK on 1053 and 1089 kHz. > (I have 2 Perseus SDRs that record MW all night) > Indeed, this is always a good sign that 160m might be open. Later around > 0330z the BCB signals were peaking up even better, and I also had audio > from Moldova Vesti on 1413kHz, and Lithuania R. Baltic on 1386. > > Karel OK1CF was CQ but his signal was not making it. > I decided to call CQ, and on my 3rd CQ Stig OZ4MM called in with a solid > signal at 3:50z. > My daughter called on the phone, so I had to leave the radio, but I came > back later and heard SM5EDX calling CQ. > John could not hear me calling since the QSB seemed fast and deep, so I > went back to CQ. > Al LY7M checked in with a tremendous signal and I continued to CQ but had > no callers until 520z when John SM5EDX called in and we had a nice solid > QSO. > About 5 minutes later Olav, LA7AFA called in with a fair signal. > John G3PQA called me about 3 times, and each time after sending his > report, QSB took him away, but finally, at 530z we completed a nice solid > QSO. > > So this was clearly a very "northern" EU opening based on my QSOs and what > I was hearing on MW. Also, I had no BCB audio from Spain which can be > common when the band opens to EU. > I have 2 EU rx. One phased Beverage pair at N. EU at 21 deg, and another > pair at 42 deg. By far the best copy was on the polar 21 deg pair, while > signals were at best a faint whisper on the 42 deg pair. > I RX in diversity, with the 21 deg in left ear, 42 deg in right ear. SO it > seems perhaps the signals were squeaking over the pole last night. > > If I had not checked my MW recordings, I would not have been encouraged to > call CQ since the band looked completely dead, but then again, the only CQ > was from Karel OK1CF. > Maybe we have all heard this before?? "If no one calls CQ, no one is going > to have any QSOs" > > I have no question at all about the power of FT-8 for cutting through the > noise. And indeed, it can be a great propagation test by looking at FT8 > PSK reporter RBN. > I maintain that beyond the tremendous power of the FT8 decode algorithm, > the fact that FT-8 ops can press "GO" on their PC and it "CQs" every 15 > seconds for as long as you want greatly increases the odds of "hearing" a > DX decode on a short QSB peak. How many CW ops are doing that? How many > would want to do that? > > Last night I CQ'd for over an hour and had no RBN hits in Europe even > though I worked 5 guys. The CW skimmer program can only decode when > signals are quite solid. > Please do not conclude the band is "dead" just because you don't see any > RBN skimmer spots from your CQ. > (I run 3 skimmer SDRS so I know what I'm talking about) > > If you love CW, call CQ for a while when you are at the radio. > It's a lot more work than letting your PC do the FT8 CQ (every 15 > seconds), but we can't know if the band is open (for our beloved CW) if we > are all just listening. > > 73, de steve, ve6wz > _________________ > Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband > Reflector > _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
