[160m] New To The List

[David Raymond]

For being at the bottom of the SS cycle, this season has been poor here in
the Midwest (Iowa).  When conditions are poor, the 160m propagation
differences between the Midwest and East Coast are exacerbated.  When the
VU7 was active, the big EC stations were lined up waiting for a QSO (and a
fair number made it-congrats!).  With the antennas system here (full size 4
sq and phased Bevs), I never did hear the VU7 on 160...not even a
trace...and that's with a S0 noise floor on the 4 sq when temps are cold and
the sky is clear.  The same thing happened with the 1A0.  In fact there were
nights when the EC was working the VU7 on 160 and the VU7 was barely
copyable here on 40m (w/2el at 130').  I did manage a VU7 QSO on 80m which was
a struggle (also with a full size 4 sq).

Here's a list (probably not comprehensive) of entities that were QRV on 160
this season that I missed:

VK9C
BV
VU7
1A
VQ9
J2
1S
UK
ES
TU
A2
SU
HV

There were a few bright spots this season.  A few mornings (maybe two or
three) when I worked 30 or 40 JA stations, some with 100w and backyard
verticals or relatively low dipoles.   The poor conditions were compounded
by the BY jammer which severely limited JA, SE Asia, and Pacific activity
(and caused major problems for the BX0ZR op).

All in all...Tom, you were probably better off playing with fast cars.

73...Dave
W0FLS

I was busy playing with cars the last minimum, but so far as
I'm concerned this minimum isn't much better than the
maximum was for 160 meters. I actually think it is worse,
but I don't have any hard statistics. Someone closer to the
pole might have a different opinion, but I'm not impressed.

73 tom