Alan,

The problem we
found in cooperation with John VE1ZJ was that the lowest local noise on

the

E.Coast was around 2 hours after local sundown. I theorised that the noise
was "coming in on the nightime skywave" and there wasn't much in
Mid-Atlantic.

VE1ZJ was in a somewhat more pristine setting than I am. My neighborhood is
quite built-up, and not very RF quiet. The evening hours are noisy, but
things seem to calm down after midnight (0500Z) local time. An Argo 3 second
screen is very "busy" at all hours, and lacks the serenity of the 60 second
version! So, my observations about the 0500 - 0700 period may have more to
do with my neighbors than about atmospheric noise.

Noise build up during the summer is a well known problem but I feel it is

a

mistake to write May to October off completely. There were many

"Statically

quiet " days days here during the summer.

True, but the more southerly latitudes tend to be noisier. You U.K fellows
live closer to Santa Claus than I do, to say nothing of Dex, who is
considerably south of me. That being said, we've had some interesting
successes with the U.S. "lowfer" stuff during the warmer months. You just
have to be patient.

John A.