Is for me
Just looked it up
Short path is 14751 km
Long path is 25252 km
Via North america
Well for me that is
Sstill hell of a distance compared to direct
Karl
Is for me
Just looked it up
Short path is 14751 km
Long path is 25252 km
Via North america
Well for me that is
Sstill hell of a distance compared to direct
Karl
Karl, itās often difficult to be sure on these things. Itās easy to over simplify and think there is a short direct path and a long direct path with the long path being 180degs away from short path. Thatās normally good enough to get a beam pointing āsort-ofā in the right direction.
But you can get scatter from patches of high ionisation that are not really on the short or long path. So if the TX station is using an omni you can hear signals on odd headings being reflected from these patches.
Phil G4OBK is rather good at using these bizarre paths. He has worked me plenty of times over a range of about 250miles on 20&17m by beaming the āwrong wayā. I can remember a contact on 17m when I was working a few US stations on my vertical. Phil was workable at 239 by beaming at where the US stations where and hearing my signal being back-scattered. I heard him the same way. Of course he has a good beam and that antenna was doing the āheavy-liftingā, I was just pleased to get an odd path nearby station in the log.
So it probably wasnāt real long path, but a non-direct scattered path. When you get a rotatable antenna installed, make sure you get a great circle map for the UK as the beam headings are anything but what you would think they are looking on the normal (Mercator projection) world maps.
Hello Karl,
Besides the idea of a map. There are lots of software around where you just enter the callsign and it gives you an idea. I just tapped in K4KPK as an example here:
Cheers
Mike
Yes, had very good path to Spain! Thanks, I was beginning to think I wouldnāt even gain the activation points
Propagation was definitely very patchy this morning, Iāve never had such a good path to EA either. Seems like some had it good, others not so much.
One more weekend of Winter bonus, will keep trying!
73, Colin
It was a funny day this way, Couldnāt even get a VK6 in the log early on around UTC rollover so thought with the contest etc that this would be a disaster of a day. Chris VK6FDKR came with me and we hit roadworks just South of Perth which slowed us down by about 15-20 mins. Mt.Randall is a tough little summit and in 33C heat and both a little over laden, Chris a bit more than me. We took the short cut up the side and were both pretty stuffed when we got to the top.
I was supposed to try for some MTR to MTR contacts but left my keying lead at home, so much for a quick scan to see if I missed packing something. So the MTR to MTR was out the window. I set up on 20 and Chris set up on 15, he was using an Alpha Ezy Mil antenna and I was using the linked dipole, first problem interference between the 2 radios. I had a quick tune around and found Andrew and Ian VK1NAM and VK1DI I had a dodgy connection which seemed to sort itself out but they were both in the log before I spotted myself and then had a flurry of contacts with probably the best Sota conditions I have encountered so far. I ended up with 7 Summit to Summit, VK1NAM/VK1DI, 2E0YYY, OE9HRV, VK2IO, M0IML, M1EYP,and VK5PAS. also copied a good roll up of regular European and VK Chasers ON5SWA, G4APO,EA2IF,HA5LV,OK1SDE,EA2DT,G0RQL, and nice to get EA8/PA7ZEE. Also lovely to work Ed DD5LP for maybe your first VK6 and you were a nice 55 Ed, great to have you in the log. Grabbed quite a few VKās on 20 and then looked on 40 and got a few VK6 stations that could not get me on 20. Also grabbed a couple on 2 metres FM. After I finished on 20 Chris went on 15 and had a good run going and quickly qualified the summit on his first attempt. So what started out looking like it was going to be a bad day ended up been an excellent day. We had to pack up at 09:00 as we both had family commitments. So thanks to everyone that called and Colin M1BUU, we will get that MTR TO MTR contact soon.
73
John VK6NU
Hi Rick,
I dontā think my antenna (Hy-Gain TH5-DX) has any odd lobes. At least thatās something Iāve never noticed. The VK guys should have come LP this morning and so they were. The US guys are always coming SP with no changes. Central EU always comes from the NorthEast, as well as the JAās.
Colin was coming this morning very strong from the North, as usually do the UK stations. Nothing suspicius on the beaming directions with my yagi.
However, conditions on 20m between me and the UK in the early morning have usually interesting behaviours. I remember previous activations where Mike was working on a frequency, I was copying the DX chasers he was working and his other EU chasers too, but not a trace of him was being heard by me. At one point, within 1 or 2 minutes only, Mike signals rised from nothing to S9+20dB and nothing had changed other than the Sun position. Its magic!
Early this morning I couldnāt copy G4ISJ; I managed to work M0IML and 2E0YYY with not too strong signals and I later worked M1BUU with solid strong signals.
It was just a matter of time, as I worked Colin about 1 hour later than Barry and Mike. That was the time Sun needs to build the right ionisation.
However todayās earlier described weird effect with Mike coming from the NothWest stronger than from the typical North is something I had never noticed before and will investigate in the futureā¦
Best 73 de Guru - EA2IF
The ionosphere is not spherical. At high latitudes, its altitude increases. If the signal is reflected from that part of the ionosphere it bounces at an odd angle and wonāt follow a great circle path.
This phenomenon is common in Alaska, which is only a few degrees north of the UK.
wunder
Funny conditions this morning. Operating from East Lomond GM/SS-198 we were a bit antenna challenged due to the weather so it was lower than normal and possibly shielded. Heard VK5PAS/P OK but his 40W trumps my 4W, also heard VK6NU, but signals just werenāt getting as far as GM to be workable with qrp. Also heard several JA stations working the contest. US stations on 40m were absolutely booming.
Report and photos elsewhere.
Lovely contact you this morning, sorry not got what you said afterwards on 40m but major QRM from side freq kicked in knocking your signal about .
karl
It was a bizarre morning in terms of the unexpected happening. I started calling on 14.320 MHz I managed to work 9A1AA and EA9IB called me back on the QRG.
Seeing the s2s, QSY spot for Andrew VK1NAM/2 I went down the band, herd YYY work him and then myself and Tom called simultaneously, I couldnāt copy Andrew well enough at first I told Tom to have a go he managed a good QSO, In the process signals improved and I managed the QSO also.
I QSYed down to 14.300 but for some reason my email client decided to kill the battery on my phone - couldnāt self spot and its a needle in a hay stack @ 10W with a contest running so I was forced into the background after this. Maybe I should have gone up to 21MHz ? I am sure I could have worked Paul VK5PAS as well if my phone hadnāt used up its juice and I knew where he was !
Certainly was more fun then the two 6 pointers I had planed today. I felt there was a great sense of āSOTA team workā about it.
GW/NW-021 was evil later on today with ice cold wind and fog, that even a Bacon butty couldnāt fuel me for.
I must have had only two hours sleep last night, after driving back from Cambridge at 0930 I then did some homebrew - as I found it was easier then sleeping out the door by 5:30 to head to the hills !
and I am not even tired !
Jonathan
Iād expect the ionosphereās shape to be influenced by the Earthās magnetic field more than its rotational axis, in which case geomagnetic latitude would matter more than geographic latitude. The difference between the rotational and magnetic axes might also introduce some interesting excursions from the ideal form. Any deviation from that ideal form is likely to change the path one way or another.
I guess the trick is not to rely too much on simplifications, and look around for propagation paths that work even if they seem weird.
73, Rick M0LEP
I think Tom 'EYP had the same problem Colin. I was hoping to pop up this morning for a chat with Mikey this morning but missed the chance. Iāll check his alerts and catch him next time.
Youāre right there John - my first VK6 SOTA - thanks a lot for that. It was interesting from this end. My home antennas are not great and I actually worked you on my 40m full wavelength horizontal loop antenna as I couldnāt hear you on the beam - but thatās because pointing long path from here the beam is pointing through the roof and picking up electrical noise from the house - where the loop being only about a metre higher, doesnāt have these problems. I could also hear Paul VK5PAS at a workable strength but as I waited to call him some Russians came up on frequency! What is strange is that I could not hear any VK1 or VK3 activators. I thought I could hear āsomethingā on the frequency that Andrew NAM was spotted on but Iām not sure. Normmally the east coast stations are louder than central and western Australia but not this time. Donāt you just love the variables in propagation!
73 Ed.
Of all the propagation studies Iāve read in the last few years, the article in QST, āThree Wrong Assumptions about the Ionosphereā by Eric Nichols, KL7AJ, really hammers this home. Itās well worth a read (you may have to pay to read it ).
In summary he says: the ionosphere is neither smooth, layered like an onion or reciprocal and H.F. signals do NOT follow the great circle pathā¦unless you happen to be at the precise magnetic equator!
A brilliant piece of work.
None of which helped me work any VKs yesterday morning!
73
Pete
It would be a great idea if joining the RSGB you got access to maybe some of the articles in QST. I know they are separate organisations but it may work the other way around for the US with RadCom. In terms of usefulness though I find the ARRL publications much more interesting.
An interesting idea. Iāve switched to paperless ARRL membership and if the RSGB did an electronic RadComic subscription Iād rejoin but only if itās cheaper than paper. If I have to pay for paper Iāll continue to not pay
2x paperless subs would not be a lot of money and you get the benefit of being a member of both organisations.
Iām a by post and online ARRL member.
From what Iāve seen and heard about RadCom since before and after I left the society, Iād not rejoin even for a paperless RadComā¦
I think the best way of considering joining or not is ādoes it do what you want?ā and if it doesnāt then you donāt join. I think things are improving. YMMV
However, this is an emotive subject that will quickly degenerate so maybe itās wise if we donāt discuss the pros and cons and accept we all make different value judgements.
Pete, I listened for you on your spot frequency but was unable to hear you.
Next timeā¦
73 Andrew vk1da/vk2uh
Thanks Andrew.
Iāll keep trying
73
Pete