All propagation forecasts today were for "poor" conditions, but I still managed to work PU1TYZ ,with 10 watts, in Rio de Janerio Brazil this evening. The "key" was listening to the " 15 watt CW beacon" (previous post) in Puerto Rico. I was "shocked" when I made the contact.
Ten meters has become a very good band for me to work South American stations. This city in Brazil is almost 5,000 miles. A few days ago, I worked a station in Argentina at 5,136 miles.
I've known about the "beacons" on the 10 meter band for awhile but until I bought the "end fed zepp" antenna; I didn't have anything to operate this band. In previous times, I've always listened for the GMT time signals for propagation.
Now that I'm operating this band, I'll be looking up the world wide 10 meter propagation beacons with the hopes of catching a few more DX countries. The little 15 watt beacon in Puerto Rico is a good indicator of an opening towards South America.
2 comments:
Good morning John, yes the beacons are very to listen too. There is some way to set them up and use them in DXLab but that is on my to do list. It's funny you can read the propagation readings and with the numbers we have been having one would think the bands should be hoping. Great to hear the 10m beacon is working out for you. Great contact by the way into South America.
Hello Mike,
I'll be listening for those beacons a lot more often now!
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