[HCDX]: Propagation this season

["Tony Ward" <tonyward@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bob: Noted your comment a couple of weeks ago on propagation and hadn't
had the chance to stick my 2 cents worth in. I wouldn't change much that
Dave Clark and I wrote in the 1994-95 FT Proceedings Volume. Generally on
the morning (Short Path) from here things have been patchy at best, with
some excellent openings but to very restricted geographic areas. Dec 4th 99
I caught my best ever Jayapura 6069.9 way over local CFRX for example, and
Biak on 6153.7v has been quite strong many mornings since February, though
modulation quality has been patchy at best. I at last have a good local ID
from them. The week or so of equinox-enhanced PNG reception was excellent on
a few days only, and obeyed the rule of needing a low K-index, with best
signals during the onset of ionospheric storm conditions. This typically
gave a day of enhanced, followed by a poor day or two, as things quietened
once more. I caught an ID from Bougainville 3325 (clip on the NU site) at
1000 Mar 28th as it peaked over the fading Guatemalan for about 20 minutes.
Other PNG's were peaking over S9, with Bougainville perhaps S3 at the time.
Palangkaraya, Ternate 3344.9 (good audio one day only) and points west were
barely in evidence. Intermediate stations like Serui 4606.4 and Fak Fak
4789.1 were quite good on a handful of mornings. West of there powerhouses
UJ/Makassar 4753.3 and Jambi 4925 were but shadows of their former glory on
the SP.  An interesting indicator here is Malaysia on 7295 which often moves
against the trend on lower frequencies, as happened this morning. Jogyakarta
7098.7v used to do the same thing. I got a snatch of SCI out of them on
5046+ this season, but nothing to call a logging of course. Only on a
handful of mornings were the 120m Aussies and Enga to a good audio level, so
the opening was very geographically restricted to a band running through
Northern PNG from Biak (Irian province)  in the West, through 3905 Kavieng
(against past experience, dominating Merauke here till closing), Rabaul
3385, and on down as far as a reliable Honiara pretty solid many mornings on
5020.

My normally fertile afternoon playing field on the LP has been generally
barren, with just a few days of enhancement over the winter --- all related
to storm onsets following an ionospheric-conditioning period of quiet
conditions. Jambi was quite strong on a few nights, as was Tanjung Karang on
3395.1 (often good carrier but no audio though), but weaker stations like
Kendari etc scraped through on only a very few nights with audio. At
solstice I detected 4890 only once at 2035Z on that *very* long path,
compared with audio (for a few minutes) on each I think of the past three
seasons. I had an excellent season for regional Malaysian stations on 60m
last year at and shortly after 2200, but didn't hear a single one this year.
Further west again, Port Blair 4760 peaked on LP at opening 2326 for the
briefest and weakest periods, lasting into the EG news on only one occasion
that I can recall. And reliable Thiru'param on 5010 has peaked at a watery
S5 once or twice around 0100+ --- way below its S9+20 regular peak, even
last year on the LP.

The antenna farm remains intact, with a fairly high 60m dipole and a most
excellent K9AY/Wellbrook added to the various Radio Works antennas, and the
Long wires. Hope all is well with you and yours.... Dave is even more snowed
under at work than I have been ...

Tony (VE3NO) NYAA StarFest On-Line
tonyward@xxxxxxxx
tward@xxxxxxxxxx
<http://www.interlog.com/~nyaa/>

The common Pro-crastinator works for money.
I waste time for the pure pleasure it gives me ...

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Montgomery" <RMonty3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <hard-core-dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2000 7:14 AM
Subject: Re: [HCDX]: 4890 PNG


> Fairly good signal on 4890 this a.m. at 1000 utc here in Northeastern US.
> Curious  know  if daily broadcasts on 9675 are the norm.  I may have only
> ever heard Port Moresby once or twice at most over the years on 9675.
> Thanks
> Bob Montgomery

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