[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Report for August 27th & 28th, 2006

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Kevin wrote:

I am not sure about Ron though.  He is normally  
much stronger here.  A note to you folks who don't know our local  
geography.  Ron lives in Forest Grove.  I live north of him about fifteen  
miles but about 1600 feet higher in elevation.  There are no intervening  
mountains like there are for the folks in Hillsboro, Beaverton, Portland,  
or Gresham.  He should be strong to me via ground wave.  I assume he was  
using his KX1 but may be fiddling with antennas.  Pete relayed him into me  
 from Southern California!!  Ron may have been skipping right over my home  
above Buxton.  I'll await the rest of the story ;)

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Nope! I was running the K2 at 100 watts and had just worked a station in the
midwest with strong sigs both ways. I think we're too far apart for ground
wave and short skip "NVIS" propagation wasn't working well. 

You were solid copy but definitely very, very weak: almost the weakest
signal I heard check in. I'm blessed with a very low noise level. The
background on 40 is usually a quiet sizzle that doesn't even light up the
first bar on the "S" meter. Your signal occasionally made the first bar
flicker, where others were lighting up the bargraph to S9 or so. 

Propagation is very interesting at this point in the Sunspot cycle, despite
what those who grumble about preparing for the next sunspot cycle say. 

I'd like to check in more often to see how this works over time, but my
schedule usually doesn't permit it. But when I can I'll be there. 

Ron AC7AC