INTERESTING SIGNAL VARIATIONS
I woke up in the early morning and couldn't get back to sleep so I made a brew and switched on the my little IC-705 for a bit of FT8 play, using the radio's built-in BP-307 battery pack. I received a -25db report from UN7ZV in Kazakhstan about 3500 miles away. As the time passed, I noticed more and more Transatlantic contacts and received a -25db from WX5CSS in the USA. Similar distances but in the opposite direction.
Nothing unusual there but then I received a +00 from AB3JE in the USA and wondered why my 5W had done so much better within a matter of minutes.
But then to my amazement, I received a +10db from an operator on Rhode Island, USA. Huh?? How can that be? All similar distances, around the same time and yet 35db apart.
Because I know so little about propagation (I've not studied the subject much at all), I cannot determine whether the +00 and +10db reports are due to propagation or just due to station conditions.
I'm kinda guessing it's more to do with the stations having fabulous antennas and sensitive receivers, rather than swells in propagation. How do you tell? I guess I should study more and maybe find some beacons to listen to for reference purposes. Or make more use of WSPR.
1 comment:
You can study all the propagation you want but it is a strange thing. Just like the weather. It is unpredictable. 73, Bas
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