At 16:36 04/19/06, WC7N wrote:
Was just looking at the great circle for Andaman Island and it
really looks tough from anywhere in the U.S.
I guess my QTH is just about as good as it can get from the US but
even then the path cuts across Alaska, North of the Kamchatka Pen.
down through China etc. That sure isn't an easy path.
Well, I was playing with W6EL Prop the last few days, and it looks
like the area with the worst openings of any place I plugged in is
the midwest. 8s 9s and 0s have the fewest usable slots, with
everything else being equal, and using today's solar numbers. East
coast is also very rough.
At my QTH (about 25 miles west of NYC) they're audible only from
about 1300 to 1900 (short path) at anything above noise/ESP level.
Sigs peak, just as W6EL predicts, 1630-1730ish (UTC). I got them on
17 CW/SSB and 20 SSB all between 1600 and 1645 UTC. The 20m CW
station the last two mornings were good from 1400 or so but not
listening for any NA that early.
There's also another smaller window here around 0000 to 0100 UTC, but
I didn't hear them last night at any usable signal level when they
were on -- though the midwest seemed to be doing OK then.
Before you ask yes I have worked them, 20 CW/30 CW and could hear
them on 80 this morning but couldn't bust the JA wall.
Congrats! Just played with numbers from VE7 (I guess somewhat closer
to you than Salt Lake, where W6EL was using for W7). Looks like you
have a lot better openings that we right-coasters have. 2 hours on
80, 5.5 hours on 40, 8 on 30, about 14 hours on 20, a bunch on 17
and a little on 15. Some pretty significant signal levels for 30, 20
and 17 too. You've also got a few hours from the west coast via long
path, too, from about 0000 to 0630 UTC, on 14, 18 and 21 MHz, believe
it or not!!
0's and 9s have much lower signal levels and for far fewer hours and
only a faint chance long path for about 90 minutes early in the morning.
For hoots and giggles, I plugged in Spain and Italy just for
fun....man, must be nice to live in southern Europe, that's all I can
say! Nice long loud openings from 80 to 12! Even northern Europe (I
used Norway) has some great openings all day/night long. JA's of
course, have the best, open around the clock, including 8 hours on
10m! ZS and PY are both pretty hot too, both long and short paths.
Would be nice if certain operators over there understood how short
our openings are, though, and would get the EU wall to sit tight (if
that's possible). I'm extremely happy I got in, believe me! -- but
for the sake of guys with smaller stations, I sure hope they have a
shot at this operation.
Now, here's hoping we don't see another few days with an A of 50!!!!
- Peter
W2IRT
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