[Lowfer] SIW overnight & EAR (plus HiFERs)

[listread at lwca.org]

> Thanks for the report, John (MacGyver). I can picture your frustration
> over the dead battery!

Most welcome, JB. Fortunately, there were two silver linings to that dark
cloud. First, by some miracle, the battery failed one month INSIDE its
full replacement warranty period, rather than the typical one month
afterward.

Second, the disruption to my schedule meant that I needed to return to the
field in late morning with the truck to recharge the storage batteries and
collect the radio gear, so I was there for the transition of SIW from
WSPR15 to QRSS. Then I thought, why not hang around a little longer to
check out 22 meters?

This turned out to be the first day in a couple of months with an opening
to Illinois, so as a result, it was also the first time I'd ever managed
to catch SIW in both WSPR modes on the same day.  Also, SIW slant mode
came through nicely, and HiFER WM was both visible and audible!  RY, USC
and NC were present with good signals too.  WV was visible and just barely
audible, GNK was visible only, and FRC was visible with aural copy on a
couple of repetitions.

The downside is that this all happened way too close to LOWDOWN deadline,
so I'm not going to have a chance to post detailed captures to the LW
Message Board until the weekend. However, attached here is the conclusion
of the EAR reception, showing the peak signal level and then the abrupt
fade about 45 minutes before dawn. (This being the first time I've ever
gotten continuous capture of EAR across so many hours, I found it
remarkable that as I scroll through all the captures, the ident remains
stationary through all of them, varying only in strength from one screen
to the next.  My capture interval is 1800 seconds/30 minutes, and the
repetition rate is synchronized at a wonderfully constant 15 minutes; but
I never had multiple successive screens with the signal in all of them
before now, so I'd never noticed.)

John
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