This morning, I had planning on sleeping in (Sunday) but woke just before the sun came up. I found 160m very quiet, and started CQing about 10 minutes before my sunrise. Callers were loud - the best signals this year - and I soon had generated a large pileup of Eastern Europeans.
Unfortunately, I missed a few Western EU callers - I hope to catch them over the next couple mornings.
I turned on my recording shortly after getting on the air:
160msr-peak-20nov
This is a 9mb file, 20 minutes long.
This post was written by admin on November 20, 2011
Z OK se dovolali OK3R, OK1AXB, OK1TP.
I listened around and called stations during the Stew Perry 160m contest this weekend. I made two sweeps of the band, one at 10Z and the other at 11Z, recording what I heard.
1000z recording: JH2FXK, N9RV, K9YC, K8IA, W7EW, DU7TET, K7NJ, N0TT, W7RN, KG6H, KH7X
1000utc Recording
1100z recording: JA3YBK, AA5B, N5RZ, N6RO, N6KI, K9YC, ZL3IX, KH6LC, K8IA, JE1ZWT, W7EW, N9RV, K4PI, K1DQV, N8UM, WD5R, K3ZM, W5ZN, W2GD, NH7O.
1100utc Recording
If you hear signals changing abruptly in strength - it is because I am switching between Beverages. The band peaked into NA here at 11z - Eastern stations actually got weaker as SR approached. Also, there were times when signals were skewed south of direct path; the 045 degree Beverage was best when normally the 030 wire hears better.
This post was written by admin on December 31, 2012
______________________________________________________________________________
Now that the fall contest season is over, I can enjoy DXing on the low bands throuigh the holiday season. The low SFI number may worry some, but for me, it means great conditions on 80 and 160m. I recently have broken 2,000 unique calls worked on both 80 and 160m, and would love to push that number up quite a bit higher this winter season.
The past few days have been excellent into Europe on 160m and North America on 80m. For some reason, I am not seeing reciprocally good conditions into NA on Top Band. Not sure what aspect is keeping this from happening. I am imagining some high MUF bubble in the mid Pacific that is causing absorption, not unlike a Bermuda High Pressure system, but this is just a guess on my part. Either way, the good conditions I am getting on 160 into Europe are just not happening in the other direction.
Here is a 11mb MP3 I made on December 8th, while running Europe on 160m. Signals are excellent. On this day, propagation was best into Southeast Europe.
8dec160
This morning I worked about 40 more EU on 160, with conditions extending all the way into the UK, with GI3OQR the best DX worked (a new one for me!)
This post was written by admin on December 10, 2012
Z OK/OM se dovolali OM2KM OK2BMU
I made sure to get on early this morning, about 50 minutes before my sunrise. Dave, A92IO had a good signal but unfortunately I was not able to raise him. Dave has high QRN levels in Bahrain.
After CQing, a weak OG2M calls in. I am not thinking the band is in good shape until I am told on KST chat that he was running 10w. Next, OH3XR calls in. Not to be out done, XR is running 5W, which is as low as his radio will go.
I turn on my recording software to record the opening. The recording is more than 40 minutes in length, so here are some clips I edited:
LA3ANA calls in so he can hear himself recorded (no problem!)
UA4CR calls in
S52AAM calls in, running only 10 watts
Near my sunrise, I had the QSO of the morning - Ron, GW3YDX calls in, a new one for me. Ron lives in the most difficult part of Europe to work from here, aside from OY and perhaps TF (TF4M makes Iceland easy however).
GW3YDX on 160m
After our QSO, Vlad UA4WHX spotted himself (as SU9VB from Egypt). I believe Vlad runs only 30w into a dipole, but I was able to copy him somewhat. Unfortunately, I could not work him, for this would have been a new zone for me. Vlad worked a few stations then QSYed to 40m with some Eastern EU still calling, so I doubt he could have heard me even without a pileup.
SU9VB working HA8BE
By now, it was after my sunrise. Ron, GW3YDX QSYed to 80m for me, where he was also a new one for me.
GW3YDX on 80m, QRMed by an IV3
Finally, Jo DKJ2PH asked for a 40m QSO. You can hear the Chinese OTH radar very well.
DK2PH on 40m, with BY OTH radar
In all cases, I am listening on my European Beverage RX antenna. The antenna is just over 900ft long, and located in the jungle behind my home. I am fortunate to have no QRN sources near me in this direction - nothing but jungle and then the ocean - which allows me to hear *very* well in this direction.
This post was written by admin on November 21, 2011
