9-24-2012 Nice morning opening between the east and west coasts

[W1AEX]

I tuned across the band and found Rick - VE6CQ in Calgary, Canada strapping in with a nice S-9+10dB signal on 29.015 MHz. After he finished up with Scott - N1UVI from Maine I was able to chat with him for about 20 minutes before the band rolled away from us. A few minutes later I found Bill - K6GZ in Hesparia, California down on 29.000 MHz with an easy to copy signal at around S-6. This was my first opportunity to "flex my hex" up on 10 meter AM with the beam sitting at 50 feet, so I was happy to finally get to enjoy the end result of that project.

I made 3 quick recordings:

1. VE6CQ - Rick as he chatted with N1UVI - Scott. Rick was S-9 + 10 dB and my RX bandwidth was 10 KHz. He sounds really nice.

2. VE6CQ - Rick as he chatted with me a few minutes later. The path between us was slipping away. Rick's signal strength was S-6 and the RX bandwidth was tightened to 8 KHz. Still sounds nice. If you listen closely, you can hear Rick's young kids playing in the background. Although it's not on this recording, at one point they were playing "How Much is that Kitty in the Window" on their CD player and it came through softly but quite clearly, although it was driving Rick a bit crazy.

3. K6GZ - Bill as we chatted on 29.000 MHz. Signal strength was S-6 and the RX bandwidth was 8 KHz. Easy copy and sounding fine. There was a parasitic from someone's amp elsewhere on the band. You can hear it fluttering back and forth at times as it passes through Bill's signal. I watched it darting up and down the band on the panadapter during the hour or so I was parked near 29.000 MHz.

Hope the trend in improved band conditions continues through the fall and winter.

Rob W1AEX