Hi Ray - I agree that prop looks pretty poor for this E-W path. I ran the predictions again using today's solar data and it looks even worse for the power/antennas we have. (Higher power, CW, more gain etc. helps considerably..) https://www.voacap.com/hf/

I will be up on Saturday morning, 18145 kc USB at 1700Z to give it a try. Not likely that 7296 kc would work out here with these parameters and "fall" conditions. But there are always "surprises"....

We can always try again, anytime, but I agree, playing with these radios in field setups makes the challenge fun at several levels.

Have fun at Gilbert with your local ops. You guys always get an enthusiastic turnout.

73, Tim

N6CC

On Thu, Sep 21, 2023 at 10:59 AM Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI@salisbury.edu> wrote:

Looking at your path predictions seventeen don't look too good, but forty may be a possibility so we will be up on 7296 at 1000 local and depending on how bad the weather is on our end ,may not want to stick around too long on my end. Will try 18.145 at 1300 local and see what happens but we also have AA83 coming up in October and that may be another opportunity and that will be from Fort Miles in Delaware right on the coast.

Ray F/KA3EKH

From: W6MQI <W6MQI@protonmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2023 5:03 PM
To: MRCG-West@groups.io <MRCG-West@groups.io>; Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI@salisbury.edu>
Cc: MMRCG@groups.io <MMRCG@groups.io>; mrca@mailman.qth.net <mrca@mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [MRCG-West] Saturdays East-West Mil Commo Test

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Doesn't look too promising if I'm reading it right.

Dave, W6MQI

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-------- Original Message --------
On Sep 19, 2023, 12:46 PM, Tim N6CC < timsamm@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Ray - I'm planning for the Gilbert - West Coast military radio check upcoming for this weekend, Saturday 23 Sept.

I will be operating a PRC-174 from a field location out this way. So I ran the VOA propagation prediction for the CA-MD path at 1800Z (11AM PDT, 1400 EDT). Freq= 18.145 mc.

Variables I entered are SSB, quarter wave verticals at each end, 50 watts (split between 100 W GRC-106 and 20 W PRC-174). Prediction uses current solar activity.. I find these predictions to be fairly accurate for my purposes...

It does not look good for propagation success: prediction (18 mc brown curve) is less than 5% for an acceptable SNR with those parameters. See chart. Other bands not usefully better..

But I guess we try anyway., maybe some mid-west / west coast Mil rock crushers may try also...But otherwise a good excuse to get out in the field..

FYI, Tim

N6CC

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