Thank you all for the interesting perspectives of why this is. I never thought about one hemisphere having more QRN than the other though I always think of rain forests in S. America and them having massive storms in their summer.
160 really is our challenge, I remember being stunned how loud S. Georgia was coming in on 30M, easily 599 on my K3 S meter. 160M, hardly moved the meter but I could hear them easily. Thanks for the different links, I had one lightning link saved in Chrome but it was eventually a dead link and I never looked farther. Now I have two links saved. I'll keep them next to the WA7BNM Contest calendar. Thank you again for all the thoughts and links. 73, Gary KA1J > Something that has always puzzled me is summer operation on 160 in > the northern hemisphere. > > Here in Connecticut 160 in the summer is so full of crashes that > picking out any DX is next to impossible. But, during the winter the > crashes are sometimes totally absent and the band is almost dead > silent except for ham operation. However, summer here is winter in > the southern hemisphere. I'll just use Argentina as the southern > example. > > Quoting from Wikipedia on Argentina: > "Argentina has four seasons: winter (June-August), spring > (September-November), summer (December-February) and autumn > (March-May), all featuring different weather conditions. The hottest > and coldest temperature extremes recorded in South America have > occurred in Argentina." > > So what is amazing to me is how difficult it is for me to hear > southern hemisphere DX in Connecticut, in July, yet they are hearing > our winter 160 contest signals, wonderfully in the middle of what is > their summer. The two recent VP8 DXpedetions were in their local > summer yet they were knocking NA & EU off one after another on top > band. > > My HI-Z Rx is so very helpful on 160 (& other bands as well) but it > sure doesn't let me hear SA DX in July. I'd like to have a clear > picture of how it is that Southern Hemisphere 160M DX can hear so > well in their summer when I'm deaf as a doorknob in mine. > > 73, > > Gary > KA1J > > _________________ > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband > _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband