[600MRG] 630m: incredible night - Saturday --> Sunday

[John Langridge]

Great band condx last night - very quiet from coast to coast based on reports and lightning map.  Also a few new WSPR listeners in the last few days so thats always encouraging.

from here in NTX, prop once again showed how it seems to drift from north to south after sunset with lots of loud signals out east.  XJM fired up early making TA to G8HUH and possibly others.  I think Dave /17 had his usual reporting of someone in EU also.

Around 0300z, I fired up Thor with good results, working XJM for a nice split QSO.  XXM had fired up on JT9 so we moved over mid QSO to each work him and then came back to Thor.  We transitioned back GMSK 15.625, which seems to be slightly faster without the FEC and a lot more narrow BW.

conditions became very unstable in that reports would jump around, not unlike what you might be see with spotlight prop... -2 one cycle, -29 the next.  Don't get me wrong, condx were very good.  You just never knew what was going to be pulled out of the bag.  While listening for Larry, Laurence, JG, Rudy. Eric would pop in out of no where on the side of the NW facing antenna.  made no sense but it did not matter.


Condx to Merv XCR in KH6 were incredible.  I am pretty sure that everyone transmitting from PA westward last night, including XJM and XPQ up in KL7, made it to KH6 last night.  I can't wait to see the first pileup when Merv sends his first signals.  Hope he works split lol

something else remarkable about the KH6 path this morning and it happened to XXM as well - XCR was hearing all the way up to SR here in the central US AND, at least here at my station, was the only station reporting me after we moved into twlight.  That notch is pretty typical at SR and has been the subject of some recent discussion but I've just not had it happen before on a longhaul SR path on 630m.  Condx moved back north shortly after SR and faded out.


The final outlier came at 12:50z, well after SR, when KC0BMF reported me at -30 on WSPR again.. Thats right around that first hop and weird things seem to happen. 


Fun night and fun condx.  Maybe another one tonight.

73!

John WG2XIQ / KB5NJD