Re: Is it my radio, or what???????

["Don Moore" <MOORE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a message from "Don Moore" <MOORE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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I will second Sonny Ashimori's comments. Down here in Iowa, I'm about 
the same distance from WWV as you are in Wisconsin. Occasionally in 
the winter the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) for this short hop 
falls below 5 MHz.  Ummmm.... I wonder if WWCR was still coming on 
5065 (we should be so lucky....).  North American pirates have 
discovered this already. A few years ago, when the sunspot cycle was 
more favorable, pirate transmissions during local evening hours 
(0000+) were common. For the past couple years, pirates have 
emphasized afternoon transmissions because 6955 is usually above the 
MUF for short-distance hops in North America. The same effect can 
occasionally be seen this time of year on HCJB's evening frequency of 
9745. Usually it booms in up here. However, there have been a few 
short periods (a couple days) over the past two months or so where 
reception has been marginal at best as the MUF between Ecuador and 
here got down around 9-10MHz during the evening. One evening back in 
December, I had Paraguay booming in on 9737 and totally destroying a 
very weak HCJB on 9745. But Paraguay is further south and there is 
more daylight in the path at this time of year. Hence, the MUF on the 
longer path to Paraguay held up, but that to HCJB was marginal. 

Don Moore   moore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx