1st QSL !!!!!

[gamegetter]

You dont need the power. I do it all on 50 watts or less. Its all in the antenna

DX is alot more dependent on conditions my friend.

good day.

 

[freezy]

i don't have my log book here but i talked to the se nw and west coast.

I had a partial connect to a 798 in Australia. We exchanged callsigns on 36 LSB but that was it

 

[EricExtreme]

DX is alot more dependent on conditions my friend.

good day.

Very true as well

 

[freezy]

if my condition is I can hear Europe but they cant hear me, what does that mean?

 

[EricExtreme]

if my condition is I can hear Europe but they cant hear me, what does that mean?

It means that their radio signal is skipping off of the atmosphere and ocean on a path where it covers your general vicinity, but your radio signal is not taking a path that ends in their general vicinity. It is beyond extremely common. Here is an explanation of dxing from one of my websites.

Simple Explanation

There is a phenomenon that allows long distance communications that is called Ionospheric Radio Wave Propagation aka “skip” or “DX”. It is when solar magnetic radiation emanating from sunspots (magnetic storms on the sun) charges the Earth’s ionosphere which is over over 30-250 miles high up in the sky causing it to act like a mirror for radio signals below 30mhz so it is possible for the signals to bounce off the charged ionosphere and end up 100 miles away, or up to 10,000+ miles away on the other side of the world. Signals also bounce off of terrain and water to allow for multiple skips. Sunspots which cause skip are on a 11 year cycle, therefore skip conditions go on a 11 year cycle (intensity wise) and in 2006 we were at the lowest activity part of the cycle. The cycle will peak in 2013. “Skip” isn’t always happening. Some days it is very strong and you can talk all over the world. Other days there is no skip and you can only talk line of site. It completely depends on sunspot intensity on the surface of the sun. There is no solid way to predict when skip conditions will be present. The only real thing you can do is turn on your radio and see the current conditions for yourself.

Detailed Explanation

(Courtesy of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration - Space Environment Laboratory)

Ionospheric Radio Wave Propagation

The Sun’s electromagnetic radiation is a continuum that spans radio wavelengths through the infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray, and beyond. Ultraviolet radiation, through a process termed photo ionization, interacts with upper atmospheric constituents to form an ionized layer called the ionosphere.

The ionosphere affects radio signals in different ways depending on their frequencies (see Figure 1), which range from extremely low (ELF) to extremely high (EHF). On frequencies below about 30 MHz the ionosphere may act as an efficient reflector, allowing radio communication to distances of many thousands of kilometers. Radio signals on frequencies above 30 MHz usually penetrate the ionosphere and, therefore, are useful for ground to space communications.

The ionosphere occasionally becomes disturbed as it reacts to certain types of solar activity. Solar flares are an example; these disturbances can affect radio communication in all latitudes. Frequencies between 2 MHz and 30 MHz are adversely affected by increased absorption, whereas on higher frequencies (e.g., 30–100 MHz) unexpected radio reflections can result in radio interference.

Scattering of radio power by ionospheric irregularities produces fluctuating signals (scintillation), and propagation may take unexpected paths. TV and FM (on VHF) radio stations are affected little by solar activity, whereas HF ground to air, ship to shore, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and amateur radio are affected frequently. Figure 2 illustrates various ionospheric radio wave propagation effects. Some satellite systems, which employ linear polarization on frequencies up to 1 GHz, are affected by Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization.

Solar Flare Effects

A solar flare is a sudden energy release in the solar atmosphere from which electromagnetic radiation and, sometimes, energetic particles and bulk plasma are emitted (Figure 3). A sudden increase of x-ray emissions resulting from a flare causes a large increase in ionization in the lower regions of the ionosphere on the sunlit side of Earth. A sudden ionospheric disturbance (SID) of radio signals can ensue. An SID can affect very low frequencies (e.g., OMEGA) as a sudden phase anomaly (SPA) or a sudden enhancement of signal (SES). At HF, and sometimes at VHF, an SID may appear as a shortwave fade (SWF). This disturbance may last from minutes to hours, depending upon the magnitude and duration of the flare.

Solar flares also create a wide spectrum of radio noise; at VHF (and under unusual conditions at HF) this noise may interfere directly with a wanted signal. The frequency with which a radio operator experiences solar flare effects will vary with the approximately 11year sunspot cycle; more effects occur during solar maximum (when flare occurrence is high) than during solar minimum (when flare occurrence is very low). A radio operator can experience great difficulty in transmitting or receiving signals during solar flares.

Energetic Particle Effects

On rare occasions a solar flare will be accompanied by a stream of energetic particles (mostly protons and electrons). The more energetic protons, traveling at speeds approaching that of light, can reach Earth in as little as 30 minutes. These protons reach the upper atmosphere near the magnetic poles. The lower regions of the polar ionosphere then become heavily ionized, and severe HF and VHF signal absorption may occur. This is called a polar cap absorption (PCA) event. PCA events may last from days to weeks, depending upon the size of the flare and how well the flare site is magnetically connected to Earth. Polar HF radio propagation often becomes impossible during these events.

Geomagnetic Storm Effects

Sufficiently large or long lived solar flares and disappearing filaments (DSF) are sometimes accompanied by the ejection of large clouds of plasma (ionized gases) into interplanetary space. These plasma clouds are called coronal mass ejections (CME). A CME travels through the solar wind in interplanetary space and sometimes reaches Earth (Figure 5).This results in a worldwide disturbance of Earth’s magnetic field, called a geomagnetic storm. Another type of solar activity, known as a coronal hole (CH), produces high speed solar wind streams that buffet Earth’s magnetic field; geomagnetic storms that may be accompanied by ionospheric disturbances can result.

These ionospheric disturbances can have adverse effects on radio signals over the entire frequency spectrum, especially in auroral latitudes. In particular, HF radio operators attempting to communicate through the auroral zones (the regions of visible aurora, or “Northern Lights”) during storms can experience rapid and deep signal fading due to the ionospheric irregularities that scatter the radio signal. Auroral absorption, multipathing, and nongreatcircle propagation effects combine to disrupt radio communication during ionospheric storm conditions. During large storms the auroral irregularity zone moves equatorward. These irregularities can produce scintillations that adversely impact phase-sensitive systems on frequencies above 1 GHz (e.g., the Global Positioning System). Geomagnetic storms may last several days, and ionospheric effects may last a day or two longer.

 

[gamegetter]

if my condition is I can hear Europe but they cant hear me, what does that mean?

I would say the "randomness" of the phenomenom...sunspot activity,

conditions and geographic location play a role and of course you have to have some type antenna.

 

[freezy]

BI-1916 Boise Idaho
750 Northern Idaho
61 Portland Oregon
41 Western Florida
3064 Nova Scotia
1916 Boise Idaho
789 Australia mobile

and if amps aren't important, turn yours off for a couple weeks. See how many of those distant signals come back to you but will come back to your neighbor who is still running his.

Take a super-ball and drop it cool huh... then throw it... that's even cooler....then shoot it out of a cannon...who cares about skip then.

 

[freezy]

really quiet this morning

 

[fodendaf]

Didnt do too bad myself yesterday. From my log...

778. 20-Oct-2012 - 19AT147 - Emile - Zwolle, Netherlands
779. 20-Oct-2012 - 161AT379 - Paul - Northeast Poland
780. 20-Oct-2012 - 26FT010 - Brighton, England
781. 20-Oct-2012 - 26FB775 - England
782. 20-Oct-2012 - 29EC705 - Bill - Carlow, Ireland
783. 20-Oct-2012 - 29FB912 - Dave - Ireland
784. 20-Oct-2012 - 26FB291 - England
785. 20-Oct-2012 - 29DC188 - George - Kildare, Ireland
786. 20-Oct-2012 - 13DK933 - Paul - Bleno, Germany
787. 20-Oct-2012 - 14TV084 - Lanrend - Guerande, France
788. 20-Oct-2012 - 1DM101 - David - Venice, Italy
789. 20-Oct-2012 - 16AT1960 - Belfast, Belgium

I think you have a misprint there. George from Kildare's callsign is 29PC188 not 29DC188. I have talked to him many times.

 

[EricExtreme]

I think you have a misprint there. George from Kildare's callsign is 29PC188 not 29DC188. I have talked to him many times.

You are absolutely correct. I can't even read my own handwriting. I made the error when typing out what I had in my hand written log. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[freezy]

weird dark skip tonight. about 8PM here...very dark

I was going to power down but heard a guy on Lake Ontario talking.

Toronto, 44 Buffalo, 217 Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri,

Wichita Kansas, Chicago

787 Rick (drunk as hell), 909, 214 Colorado

That guy in New Zealand was coming in like gang busters but he couldn't here me.

Early in the day I talked to 2 guys in Newfoundland Scott 9/LV/1061 and Charlie#138

and finally after trying for 2 weeks that 69 lady in Santa Barbara...great voice!!! All kinds of folk in Southern California...pretty normal skip for me from there.

No Florida though. I didn't have to listen to dave #252 in Ft Myers talk about what he did to his radio today. Everyday for the past 2 weeks, "Hey Modulator, how's this sound? I just brought it in to get tuned...I just put new tubes inma amplifahr...I got new coax...I gotta new mic...I put in some noise filters in da power... I changed the grounds...." I do have to say he's a one man economic stimulus package.


Bizzaare fun day of DXing

 

[freezy]

had 2 great contacts today.

York, England
Nome, Alaska

 

[skip searcher]

What frequency do you monitor

 

[freezy]

the nuthouse

27385 LSB or somewhere near. I'm working on my tech as I speak