[ADXA] PART 2 - The 30 Second Band Opening

[Pat Patterson]

Congrats Joel.  Glad your hard work and perseverance paid off.

In an attempt to avoid getting the WEENIE Award I managed to snag V84SAA on
30CW late this afternoon via long path.   Also, you have inspired me to put
something up for 160M.  I found a 80M coaxial trap I started several years
ago...turns of RG213 on a 4" PVC form.  Finished it and tested with a grid
dipper and found it's resonant around 3440KHz.  Cut some 12AWG stranded
house wire for an Inverted "L" and started trying to get Dacron ropes up in
one of big gum trees by the lakefront.  Not that the lake will help....just
trying to keep the thing as far away from my neighbors as possible.  I'll
have a single elevated radial for 80 and another for 160.   I hope to have
it ready for the ARRL DX CW test.  Almost everything on 160M would be a new
one for me.   No RX antenna yet...I'll work on that next!

My favorite Gray-Line experience was working FT5ZM on 80CW back in Feb,
2014.  I had a wire 1/4 wave vertical for 80M when I lived in  North Little
Rock.  I had listened (with the vertical and a MFJ noise canceler) for them
around our SR for several days and they were really weak(on my crappy RX
setup!).  Then one morning they peaked up to a real S5 signal for about 5
minutes and I worked them (Craig, K9CT was the op).  Amsterdam and St. Paul
Islands are very nearly antipodal from us...less that 1200 miles difference
between short path/long path.  That's far and way the longest 80M Q I've
had.

Your goal of 300 on 160M is a high bar but I'd put money on you getting
there.  Are there many entities that don't have 160M allocations or really
low power limits?

73,
Pat, W5VY

On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 5:26 AM <w5zn at w5zn.org> wrote:

> Why was I up at 3 AM writing the previous post about a 30 second band
> opening?? Because this was the first morning North America would have a
> shot at V84SAA on 160 meters. Their SS is 1034z (4:34 AM in Arkansas) so
> I wanted the station to be fired up and ready. As is obvious that bad
> line of thunderstorms are rolling in from TX and OK but heck, you gotta
> sit in the chair, strap on the cans and LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN even if it
> is very painful with the QRN.
>
> A couple of JA's spotted V84SAA on 160 meters 20 mins before their SS
> however they are almost local to V8. Two minutes before SS at V8 I
> started hearing them then their signal peaked very strong right a their
> SS even through the QRN. They are in the log on 160 here!
>
> 15 mins later their sig was completely gone.
>
> I know some of you need this one. This is a first class group of ops and
> first class set up. GET IN THE CHAIR, GET ON THE AIR, STRAP ON THE
> HEADPHONES AND WORK THEM!!
>
> No excuses or you will be a candidate for the ADXA WEENIE AWARD!
>
> 73 Joel W5ZN
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