Followers

Monday, December 31, 2018

Propagation on the last day of the year was poor between most of those present.  Stations on that we are aware of were K4CFZ, KP2AE, WA4LDU, WB4EZ, WA4PGI, N2CEI and W4DEX.

WB4EZ was S2 at W4DEX going into the noise at times.  WA4LDU was about the same at W4DEX,  KP2AE was also lower than what has been the normal only reaching S5 at times.  K4CFZ is in the near field of W4DEX so his signal is always S9 via ground wave.  

The only maybe slightly above average path was between N2CEI and W4DEX at 378 miles.  N2CEI was Q5 SSB most of the time at W4DEX.  N2CEI was also copied by all except WB4EZ.

WA4PGI was on but had treadmill QRM.  

MP3 audio for N2CEI on CW at W4DEX:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wkjvlk1gejmlxsc/n2cei_cw_1900khz_1245et_31dec18.mp3?dl=0

Notice the QSB toward the end of the transmission.  

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Stations on today that we heard were WB4EZ, W4NUS, K4CFZ, AB4AM and W4DEX.  The Kp index was still elevated at 3 to 4.  

WB4EZ was about S2 at best at W4DEX with signals going into the noise at times.  W4NUS was anywhere from S3 to S9 at times.  I suspect the S3 signal is totally ground wave considering the distance is only 24 miles.  That indicates even at such a short distance there can be strong sky wave reflections from the F2 layer if enough signal can penetrate the round trip through the D layer.  AB4AM was heard several times peaking as much as S3 but we could not get his attention I suspect due to high receive  noise level at his QTH.

Space Weather Message Code: ALTEF3
Serial Number: 2887
Issue Time: 2018 Dec 30 1426 UTC
CONTINUED ALERT: Electron 2MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1000pfu
Continuation of Serial Number: 2886
Begin Time: 2018 Dec 29 1615 UTC
Yesterday Maximum 2MeV Flux: 2833 pfu

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Big turnout today for the mid day test.  Propagation was fair even though the geomag field was unsettled with an index of K3.  Stations on with contact made by W4DEX were  KW4DE, KP2AE, N2CEI, W4NUS, WB4EZ and AB2UE.

Stations heard by KW4DE and W4DEX were K4DBK (S5 at times), KC2UT (S2), W3HN (S3), W8TB (S1), K3EIO (S1) and N3EIO (S1)  Neither KW4DE at 1KW or W4DEX at 750W could get their attention.

WB4EZ did QSO K4DBK and some of the other stations listed above. 


Space Weather Message Code: ALTEF3
Serial Number: 2886
Issue Time: 2018 Dec 29 1630 UTC
ALERT: Electron 2MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1000pfu
Threshold Reached: 2018 Dec 29 1615 UTC
Station: GOES15

Friday, December 28, 2018

Mid day propagation was way down from yesterday.  Possibly due to a Kp index of 5?  Present today was KW4DE, KP2AE, WA4PGI, WB4EZ, and W4DEX.  WA4PGI was weak but readable most of the time at KW4DE and W4DEX with one brief S9 peak at KW4DE.  WA4PGI was detectable at KP2AE but no readable.  WB4EZ was also weak but readable most of the time at KW4DE and W4DEX but no heard by KP2AE.  WW8II was heard about S1 by KP2AE, KW4DE and W4DEX but did not respond to our calls.  



Space Weather Message Code: ALTK05
Serial Number: 1254
Issue Time: 2018 Dec 28 0900 UTC
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 5
Threshold Reached: 2018 Dec 28 0859 UTC
Synoptic Period: 0600-0900 UTC
Active Warning: Yes
NOAA Scale: G1 - Minor

Thursday, December 27, 2018

N2CEI was on again today and was heard well by WA4LDU, KP2AE, K4CFZ, W4NUS and W4DEX.  No one else was on that we are aware of.  N2CEI was able to QSO WA4LDU and W4DEX with a partial QSO with W4NUS.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

I missed both the December 25th and 26 midday test.  From the chat page, http://w4dex.com/uhfqso/  I see WA4LDU, WA4PGI, K4CFZ and WB4EZ was on the 25th.  WA4LDU heard WB4EZ and had QSO with K4CFZ.  On the 26th N2CEI was on indicating he heard weak CW then weak SSB he thought was an N8 on frequency.  I plan to be back on a regular schedule the rest of the week.

W4DEX

Monday, December 24, 2018

I was about 10 min late getting on today so may have missed someone.  When I got in the shack WA4PGI was in QSO with WB4EZ.  Both were about S5 with slow QSB occasionally getting close to the noise floor.  WA1AC and WA4LDU also showed up.  WA4LDU could copy WA4PGI running about 600 watts but WA4PGI did not copy WA4LDU at 100 watts.  WA1AC had good copy on WB4EZ but WA4PGI was just detectable.  Both WA1AC and WA4LDU were solid about S7 copy at W4DEX.  

Sunday, December 23, 2018

Good local signals today.  WA4PGI (600 watts) peaked S9 at KW4DE and W4DEX.  He was also copied by WA4LDU at 275 miles.  WA4LDU (100 watts) peaked S9 at KW4DE and W4DEX.  He was heard by WA4PGI but not QSO quality.   K4CFZ was also present.

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Good turn out today with 8 stations present.  WW8II again was heard by all but his signal was way down from yesterday.  WW8II did complete a QSO with WB4EZ, WA4PGI and W4DEX.  WW8II had partial QSO with WA4LDU and AB4AM.  The short paths that were weak yesterday was much better today.  Signals today at W4DEX were KP2AE S9, WA4LDU S8, WA4PGI S7, WB4EZ S5, AB4AM S5, and AB2UE S5.  WW8II at W4DEX peaked S5 with QSB often taking his signal into the noise.  

Friday, December 21, 2018

Very interesting propagation today on 1900 kHz.  WW8II in Michigan showed up.  Bruce was good SSB QSO quality about 90% of the time with W4DEX, 510 miles.  WW8II also had a partial QSO with WB4EZ, 450 miles, and WA4LDU at 580 miles.  WW8II was also Q5 copy most of the time at KP2AE and K4CFZ.  

Conditions between the closer in stations were marginal at best.  WA4LDU was only S2 at W4DEX.  KP2AE was about S3 today vs S9+ a few days ago.  WB4EZ was better than the past few days but still way down from what we saw during the first two weeks of December.  

So if WW8II had not shown up we would have considered this to be a marginal propagation day.  This indicates the propagation quality we see out to several miles is no indication of what longer paths may be.    

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Propagating still way down from what was normal for the first few weeks of this month.  WA4PGI on CW was heard just above the noise by W4DEX, KP2AE and KW4DE.  WB4EZ was S1 at best at W4DEX with QSB into the noise.  The KP2AE to W4DEX 50 mile path that was S9+ yesterday was only S2 today.  K4CFZ was also present but did not hear WB4EZ or KP2AE.  

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Only three stations on today that we are aware of.  KP2AE, WB4EZ and W4DEX.  The 200 mile path between WB4EZ and W4DEX was fair to poor.  Signals were S2 at best with QSB taking copy into the noise.  The 250 mile path between KP2AE and WB4EZ produced about 10% copy at KP2AE.  We did noticed that KP2AE to WB4EZ path was best when the WB4EZ to W4DEX path faded close to the noise.  The 50 mile KP2AE to W4DEX path was excellent with near steady S9 signals.  There has been times in the past that signals between KP2AE to W4DEX were nonexistent.  

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Poor conditions again today.  K3TUF was heard on CW by W4DEX peaking 559 but averaging about 529.  WA4PGI on CW did QSO W4DEX with 429 on his end and 529 at W4DEX.  No other stations heard.  

Monday, December 17, 2018

No one outside the NC/SC area was heard today.  Those on were KW4DE, K4CFZ, KP2AE and W4DEX.  WA4PGI was not home.  No one was on the chat page indicating both K3TUF and N2CEI also wasn't on today.  

Propagation between those on above was fair to good.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

I wasn't home today for the daily 1900 khz propagation test but I did have a recorder running.  The only signal heard was a few weak CW transmissions from Gene, WA4PGI.  This indicates propagation was again way below what we experienced the first few weeks in December.  Solar X-ray flux was low and the geomagnetic field was quiet.   Just as we were starting to think the lower sun angle on the northern hemisphere may be the reason propagation was good during the first few weeks of the month we hit a few poor days in a row.  

What was heard from WA4PGI today:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u93k8xrtxitpos4/wa4pgi_1900khz_20181216.mp3?dl=0

Update:  I just learned Johnny, WB4EZ, was on today.  He made a few calls but wasn't heard by WA4PGI or on my recording.  Also WA4PGI did hear some weak unidentifiable CW but did not hear WB4EZ.  Further indicating propagation was poor today.  

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Propagation today was very much down from what we have recently had.  There was a minor spike in solar x-ray flux that peaked at 1353 UTC.

On today was K4CDZ, W4NUS, KP2AE, WA4LDU, WB4EZ and W4DEX.

WB4EZ at W4DEX was Q5 but only S1.  WB4EZ was only detected by K4CFZ and KP2AE.
The signals between all present was noticeably down from all previous days over the past few weeks.  

LATEST X-RAY EVENT (1-8Ã…)
A1.5
Beginning
2018-12-15 13:49:00 UTC
A6.7
Maximum
2018-12-15 13:53:00 UTC
B1.0
Integrated flux: 0.000051 J m-2
End
2018-12-15 13:58:00 UTC


A7.7






Friday, December 14, 2018

Today we saw good propagation out to 300 miles.  Present today was WA4LDU, KP2AE, WA4PGI, WB4EZ, WA1AC and W4DEX.  Some QSB but less than on most days.  Everyone was able to make a valid QSO with Q5 copy most of the time over the longest path 300 mile path between WA4LDU and WB4EZ.  N2CEI planned to be present but was absent due to thunderstorms.

Longest paths made today:

WA4LDU to WB4EZ    300 miles
WA4LDU to WA4PGI   273 miles
WA1AC   to  WB4EZ    262 miles
WA1AC   to  WA4PGI   250 miles
KP2AE   to   WB4EZ    247 miles
KP2AE   to   WA4PGI  199 miles


Thursday, December 13, 2018

I was coerced into a day of shopping so I missed any activity that may have been on today.  Gene, WA4PGI, informed me he was on and made a few calls with on response.  If anyone else was on let me know and I'll update the blog.  I expect to be on tomorrow.

Update:  Additional stations on today are KP2AE, WA4LDU and W4NUS.  All were QSO quality expect W4NUS had some difficulty copying WA4LDU due to local noise.  KP2AE did not hear WA4PGI which indicates propagation was not up the the recent normal conditions.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Conditions today was good at 200 miles but down from what has become the recent normal this month.  WB4EZ at 200 miles was S6 at W4DEX with QSB down to S1 at times.  KP2AE had some Q5 copy on WB4EZ , 200 miles, at times.  WA4LDU could detect WB4EZ at 300 miles.  K3TUF also showed up but his signal was down from previous days with CW peaking about 539 at W4DEX.

Propagation so far during December is considerable better than we experienced during the summer months.  Perhaps because of the lower sun angle providing less ultraviolet radiation for ionization of the D layer region?  These test started in the last few days of December 2017.  The only day during that time that stood out was the 29th of December 2017.  We have seen much better propagation for more than a month prior to the winter solstice.  So not experiencing the same fair to good propagation a month after the winter solstice doesn't support the lower sun angle theory. 

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Propagation today was very good.   N2CEI competed three QSOs working WA4LDU (273 miles) and W4DEX (378 miles) on SSB and K3TUF on CW (786 miles).  K3TUF on CW was 579 at W4DEX and 539 at WA4LDU.  Most of the regulars were absent today.    

Monday, December 10, 2018

Present today was KP2AE, K4CFZ, KD4RLD, WB4EZ, AD4HG, WA4PGI, K3TUF and W4DEX.  Everyone was heard by KP2AE, K4CFZ, KD4RLD and W4DEX.  K3TUF on CW peaked 579 while working WA4PGI.  WA4PGI WB4EZ and AD4HG were Q5 SSB copy by all in NC/SC.

WA4PGI commented that propagation was down today based on not copying me well.  But he was unaware that I was running 100 watts to a multiband wire instead of 750 watts to a high inverted L antenna.  I'll work toward putting up a dedicated 160 meter antenna but that's not likely to happen soon.  

W4DEX
A day late posting for yesterday, Dec 9th.  Only three stations present, K4CFZ, KP2AE and W4DEX.  That was expected considering the weather conditions.  Lots of ice in south central NC and snow to the north.  The K4CFZ and W4DEX path to KP2AE was somewhat down from the previous day.  

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Present today was KP2AE, WA4PGI, AD4HG and W4DEX.   Propagation was fair but way down from yesterday on the KP2E to WA4PGI path.  KP2AE to W4DEX was down from recent days.  AD4HG at W4DEX was S3 but fading close to noise level at times.  WA4PGI to W4DEX was stable at around S3.  

Although the 175 mile path from WA4PGI to W4DEX wasn't strong there were many days during the summer when we either could not hear each other or had to use CW.  Also on a few occasions the 50 mile path between KP2AE and W4DEX was almost non existent.  KP2AE could detect 700 watts from W4DEX but KP2AE's 100 watts was not detectable in the other direction.  

So far the month of December has been noticeably better than what we have experienced during the past year.  Possibly because of less D layer absorption due to lower sun angle?  

eot 

Friday, December 7, 2018

Another good mid-day on 1900 kHz and again I missed it but my IC-7300 didn't :)  43 minutes of what was received at my QTH is available at this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/282aa58vlib7b21/1900khz_1730Z_20181207.mp3?dl=0

Stations heard were KP2AE, KW4DE, WA4PGI, KU4XO, K4RCA, K3TUF and N2CEI.  Again the best DX contact was between K3TUF and N2CEI (786 miles) but that required CW.  WA4PGI also had a complete CW contact with N2CEI.  The KP2AE to WA4PGI SSB path seemed to be stable with minimum QSB.  QSO between KW4DE and N2CEI was good SSB quality.   

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Signals from all present that were within about 250 miles of each other were excellent today.  The only other path from all to K3TUF was lower than yesterday.

Signal levels from WB4EZ to W4DEX (200 miles) was the best since we started the test in late December 2017.  Johnny's signal had very little QSB and was S9 most of the time.  Johnny was also near S9 at KP2AE (250) miles.  Johnny was also copied by WA1AC in Camden SC and W4NUS in Charlotte NC.

K3TUF was on and his CW was heard by everyone but much weaker than on previous days.  K3TUF did QSO WB4EZ on SSB.  

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Another good mid-day on 160 meters.  Best contact was between K3TUF and KW4DE at 413 miles.  K3TUF was heard by everyone except KD4AMP in FL and AB2UE who checked in late just happening to find daytime activity on the band.     All stations within 300 miles of each other were QSO quality at times.  WB4EZ had a quick 300 mile QSO with W2AZQ.  The QSB rate was fairly fast. 

Stations on today:

WB4EZ    Johnny
W2AZQ   Carl
KW4DE   Darrell  
WA4PGI  Gene
AD4HG   Fred
K3TUF   Phil
WA1AC  Clint
KD4AMP  Jon
AB2UE    Terry
W4DEX   Dex 

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Another good day for 160 meter propagation and I missed it :( But I did have the IC-7300 recording :)

K1WHS, Dave in Maine, showed up with a good signal and was able to QSO with WA4PGI (612.34 miles), WB4EZ (555.87 miles) and KM4GBM (595.55 miles).

Recording of what was received here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sr4b13bbsyl2yoc/04dec18.mp3?dl=0

My distance to K1WHS is 754 miles. 

Now when I tell about all the mid-day 160M contacts I had 30+ years ago and get those looks of disbelief,  I now have proof it does happen.

73,
Dex

Monday, December 3, 2018

We had a good turn out and good results today.  Station present were WB4EZ, KW4DE, KP2AE, K4CFZ, K3TUF, N2CEI and W4DEX.  WB4EZ was consistent copy on the 200 mile path to KW4DE, K4CFZ and W4DEX.  Also the 250 mile path from WB4EZ to KP2AE was good.  K3TUF was heard on CW by everyone and on SSB by all except N2CEI although K3TUF and N2CEI did complete a 786 mile CW QSO!  N2CEI was Q5 on SSB received by KW4DE, KP2AE, K4CFZ and W4DEX.  N2CEI copied KW4DE and W4DEX Q5 and complete 378 mile QSOs were made by both.  

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Today we had Fred, KN4EVX, join us for the mid-day test.  Fred was copied by everyone except W4NUS who checked in after Fred signed out.  Overall propagation was better than yesterday.  WB4EZ was Q5 all the time with his signal running from S5 to S1 on the 200 mile path to me.  KP2AE had even stronger signal from WB4EZ on that 250 mile path.  WA4PGI had a more consistent signal to me averaging about S4

Stations present today were WB4EZ, WA4PGI, KP2AE, KN4EVX, W4NUS and W4DEX.

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Propagation today was again down from the previous day.  So far the best day we have experienced was the 29th on November 2018.  The 8th of November was the second best day.  

Stations present today were WB4EZ, WA4PGI, KP2AE, KW4DE and W4DEX.