Hello all:
The following is a post I made to another list about the cycle 24
upswing in solar activity. Just my personal observations/thoughts
Mostly about LOWfer activity this side of the pond.
It may depend on which side of the fence you're on whether the increased Solar
activity is beneficial to your type of operation. mid to upper HF perks up for
long distance, but lower HF and down begins to shorten up to more localised
communications. 80 and 160 meter DX will become impossible except to the big
guns, but on the other hand, if you're more into local ragchewing, that's when
the band conditions become optimum. When I was operating A.M. on 80 meters,I
loved it when the sunspot cycle was at its peak because many migrated up to the
higher bands, and congestion wasn't nearly as bad. Plus the enhanced daytime
local conditions were great. I was running a Hallicrafters HT-40 with 10 watts
output into a low to the ground All band dipole, and every day would work
stations 300 to 400 miles away during the afternoon, and the atmospheric noise
didn't seem to be as bad on the low bands during the peak of the cycle.
I know we are still 4 to 5 years away from real solar enhancement, but I'm
curious what effects it will have on 600, 1750, and 2200 meters. 600 meters
will show the greatest effects I'm sure. I wonder how it might affect 1750
meter beacons ??? Right now, we can't seem to " Hear or see " beacons 200 to
400 miles away, so if the band conditions change to closer in, is it possible
that we might begin to actually Hear some of the closer in beacons ?? If it
gets to the point that beacons become audible on 1750 meters, operators might
be able to have actual CW QSO's with each other. That would be fantastic as
operators could program their beacons for CW mode, where current conditions
allow only for SLLOOOOWWW mode operation if you have any hope of being " Seen "
but not heard.
Just my rambling thoughts today; *** 73 everyone ***
Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN.
LOWfer Beacon " XR " @ 185.29866 KHz ( QRSS-60 )
Coordinates: N: 35* 43' 54" - W: 84* 3' 16"
http://www.myspace.com/beaconxr
http://webpages.charter.net/ku4xr/
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