[Lowfer] New to the list.

[Ed Phillips]

Peter Barick wrote:

> 
> But note, our work at 1750 meters is not two way activity, only low
> powered beacons that mostly transmit very slow cw that can't be heard
> audibly! Yes, like we're "invisible," until our receivers are hooked up
> to a pc running specialized software (Argo, for one) to decipher a
> signal out of the apparent noise. That is how "communications" occur at
> 1750. So we see signals on a pc monitor screen, no audio.
> 
> As you suggested when noting 160M activity slowing down, the same holds
> sway here. Best low noise (QRN-wise) months are late Oct thru March.
> Then activity becomes sparse, giving way to QRN.
> 
> Cheers, Peter, N. IL

	Sadly enough, that seems to be true today.  We out here on the west
coasts were always cut off from the rest of the "community", but back in
the 80's and early 90's there was a fair amount of two-way communication
going on here, both by "normal" CW, RTTY, and SSB.  I used to talk with
Cliff Walker "CW" (about 30 miles from here) using regular 65 WPM RTTY,
170 cycle shift.  Signals were generally solid.  Best "DX" from here was
Mike Mideke "Z2" at about 220 miles, using CW at around 15 wpm.  For
several years there was a regular Saturday morning SSB net going here in
the LA area, about 6 guys using SSB transceivers designed and built by
Charles Faulkner "FPV" (W6FPV).  Dave Curry "PLI" and Randy Sedan "ELU"
got together on SSB every Saturday morning for several years, again
around 30 miles.

Ed