: Boring Report - December
> > Simply put - Decemeber was not very exciting... dare I say almost > boring? > > While I have been able to hear and work some Europeans during the > month - signals have been down significantly from normal. Most > nights - I either hear nothing - or perhaps only a few weak signals. > Most of my contacts have been made by the "skin of my teeth" and > there have not been any opportunities to run stations. While I have > worked a few stations in the morning - the mornings in the past two > years were much better. > > All of this sort of adds to me thinking conditions are significantly > worse than they were the past couple or years. Likely worse than > they have been since 2006. > > Just wondering if this matches the perception of others? Looking > back in my logs - it's amazing to me that I actually went through > several years of working zero Europeans - but it appears we might > be on the brink of this happening again? > > 73 Tree N6TR >From my observations here in the Midwest, conditions are substantially down from recent years past. That includes conditions to EU, Asia, and VK/ZL. Last year and the year before many of the active NA stations were routinely working Zones 17, 18, & 19 both morning and night. This part of the world is a relatively tough path for NA. This year it's much more of a challenge to work those zones at any time. I note that activity from JA is only a small fraction of what it has been in recent years. Two years ago I could easily work 10 or 20 JA stations in one morning session. Now, I can CQ beaming JA for 20 minutes and never even get a response. All that said there have been a few bright moments. There was a wonderful opening from the Midwest to EU at their SR a few nights ago. Topband sounded like 20m at midday with stations every KHz. But that was just one evening, not night-after-night like it was a year or two ago. I think all of this has somewhat discouraged all but a few of the stalwarts, and understandably so. You just have to be on. . .there just won't be as good a return on your investment. No doubt, times and prop have changed. 73 and Happy New Year to all. . .Dave W0FLS in Iowa _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
