[Elecraft] Condx

[David Yarnes]

Hi All,

Condx do seem to be very "selective" these days.  The bands will sound dead as a doornail one minute, and then some signal will come out of the woodwork.  20 meters has had some short, but decent, openings here mid to late morning, and then it seems to die.  40 meters is usually best here in the early morning.  Much of Asia and the south pacific comes in early here, but I haven't heard all that much from ZL/VK.  I suggest you listen around 1300Z (a bit earlier perhaps on the east coast).  You are very apt to hear JA1NUT, who seems to get on nearly every day, and with an outstanding signal.  I tend to use him for a "beacon" as to how the band is doing.  I've worked him with everything from 1 watt to 100 watts over the last several weeks, but if he's not S9+, I know the band is not in great shape.  I'm not hearing much of anything above 20 meters.  Afternoon openings to Europe on 40 haven't been very good, but I have heard a few good signals from Africa.  Also, I keep hearing stations in Texas (probably with good antennas) knocking of Europe contacts with good reports.  Obviously my antenna could use some improvement.

The SFI moved all the way from 69 to 70 recently!  There just doesn't seem to be much good news in the propagation reports.  However, even with pitiful numbers like that, you can snag a couple of contacts if you happen to be listening at the right time.

Dave W7AQK


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tim 
  To: Chuck - AE4CW 
  Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 8:25 PM
  Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Condx


  Chuck et. al.,

  Yes, 20m was really sparse today EXCEPT I worked a YS3 (a new one for me) at around 2100z and a JH9 at 2300Z with my K3 @ 5 watts cw to an inverted L.  Sometimes weird (and poor ) condx can be surprising!

  Tim K5OI
  Ruidoso, NM


  On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 8:08 PM, Chuck - AE4CW <AE4CW at att.net> wrote:


    Yes, 20m seems highly variable the last few days, but between 14:00 and 15:00
    UTC today, I managed seven stations on SSB over a big chuck of Europe and
    bypassed a number of Italians. Later in the day Liberia and Brazil came up.
    Not too impressive but better than I've heard in a few days.  The antenna
    was a Cushcraft R5 vertical, not the strongest, and 100 watts in an S6-7
    noise environment.

    Chuck, AE4CW






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