Can We Really Predict Radio Propagation ?

Strange Propagation ?

I guess by now, we all know as Amateur Radio Operators ... 

Solar Weather and Radio Propagation

 is very hard to predict.

Below is this past weekends observation & forecast :

Space Weather Message Code: WARK05

Serial Number: 676

Issue Time: 2011 Feb 05 0020 UTC

EXTENDED WARNING: Geomagnetic K-index of 5 expected

Extension to Serial Number: 675

Valid From: 2011 Feb 04 1930 UTC

Now Valid Until: 2011 Feb 04 0330 UTC

Warning Condition: Onset

 & 

SolarCycle24.org ......

On Friday February 4, 2011 recurrent trans-equatorial coronal hole #436(#433) was in geo-effective (Earth facing) position and impacted Earth's magnetic field in a negative manner, producing a Kp of 6 (moderate geomagnetic storming conditions).

The end result was a reduction in the F2 layer maximum usable frequency (MUF) that negatively effected propagation conditions on 10, 12 and 15 meters.

.........

Notice the predicted END RESULT on 10-12 & 15 ?

I'm certainly no expert on Solar Weather ...

But I have noticed over the years 

that at the onset of high solar activity

we sometimes tend to have enhanced HF conditions

 on the Ham Bands for a day or so!!

This past weekend was no exception !!!

Over the weekend I worked 21 new band countries on 7 different bands

Below is my list from this weekend :

10 Meters 

TR8 - Gabon

VP8 - South Orkney

12 Meters 

J79 - Dominica

TJ3 - Cameroon

TR8 - Gabon

HP1 - Panama

LU7 - Argentina

VP8 - S. Orkney

KH2 - Guam

17 Meters

PJ4 - Bonaire

VP2 - Montserrat

20 Meters

PJ4 - Bonaire

30 Meters

PJ2 - Curacao

VP8 - S. Orkney

XT - Burkina Faso

S9 - Sao Tome

A4 - Oman

C6 - Bahamas

A3 - Tonga

40 Meters

TJ3 - Cameroon

160 Meters

VP8 - S. Orkney

All I can say is .... What a fun weekend on the Radio !!

Notice that's new band countries 

all the way from 10 meters to 160 meters ... Wow !!

I'm just wondering if anyone else noticed these Enhanced conditions

 this past weekend ?

73 de N4LA

Get

 RADIO-ACTIVE !!

VP8ORK... Wow !!

VP8ORK / South Orkney Islands

Check out more info at the links below...

VP8ORK Photos

or 

VP8ORK Homepage

M0TNX / Kev .. Has a new website !!

Back on Jan 15th .... 

I had a nice qso with Kev ( M0TNX ) while he was portable.

Kev has recently started a webpage with lots of good info ... 

which includes his portable op reports.

Check out his link below !!

M0TNX Link

Thanks for the info Kev !!

The Terrible " T's "

For years I've heard that any African station  that has a prefix that begins with the letter " T "... 

will be tough to work. That may not be the case with TJ3AY. Henri had a crushing signal this morning.

59 into North Carolina at 13:30 utc on 15 meter SSB.

Thanks for the contact Henri ... and thanks for being " Radio-Active " !!

"Buddies in the Caribbean" Dominica (J7) DXpedition

The "Buddies in the Caribbean" DXpedition (Team #1) which specializes in 100 watt or less low power radios and the Buddipole portable antenna systems will be on Dominica (J7) February 1-9th, 2011. We plan to stay at the Calibishie Cove hotel ( http://www.calibishiecove.com/ ) on the north shore of Dominica. The entire mini-DXpedition is limited to equipment that can fit in your airline suitcases ( 75 lbs / 34 kg max).

With J7 licenses, the eight operators are: Budd/J79FF (W3FF), Chris/J79HFP (W6HFP), Dan/J79ZP (WZ1P), Paul/J79AVO (KB9AVO), Mike/J79VG (KC4VG), Steve/J79AT (wG0AT), Wey/J79EA (K8EAB), and Guy/J79UN (N7UN). There will be 3 hotel stations in operation at various times on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB, and RTTY. During the day, several teams will be battery-only, field portable either from Dominica beaches, scenic mountain tops, or national parks. 160m and 80m CW operations are planned, conditions permitting. QSL via LoTW, eQSL, or mail to the operator's home callsign (SASE required).

M0TNX is "Radio-Active" !!

I worked Kev (M0TNX) over the weekend on 17 meters...

 while he was operating portable on the beach.

Here's a couple of photo's of  Kev's portable set-up 

Kev had 25mph winds while operating.

Thanks for sending me some photo's Kev !!

N4LA Antenna Repair

This past weekend I spent  most of my Saturday repairing my ... 4 element ... 40 meter ... wire yagi

Above is a picture of the 40 meter driven element

I also have two directors, and one reflector in this wire array 

It's pointing approximately 35 degrees NE 

Although its not quite a flat top ...its darn close ... and works very well  pointing into Europe

This is the 3rd low band season its been utilized ... and each year I've tried to make minor improvements

This year I changed the spacing of the reflector and driven element

That alone improved the front to back at least 6db / 1 S unit

I also replaced all the rope that holds the ends of the wire elements up with ... .095 Weed Eater string !!

This is an old trick a friend of mine (Dave / NA4L ) from SW Virginia showed me a few years ago.

He used this stuff to hold up the wire verticals to his 80 meter 4 square.

Some of the Europeans call it Weed Whacker String !!

Its quite a bit stronger than the small rope I was using.

It's UV resistant ... it doesn't fray like rope does up in the tree tops

It slides over the tree limbs much easier than rope... so less snags

Its almost invisible ... and, it last a long time

Best of all ... its about half the price of the rope I typically use on antenna projects 

I also use springs on the center supports that hold up the middle of each dipole element

The spring allows movement of the dipoles ... which helps strengthen the yagi in high winds.

These small improvements should decrease my maintenance time 

and increase my operating time !!