Armchair Coast-to-Coast on 10 Today

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Free time finally coincided with excellent band conditions this afternoon and I had a nice contact with W6FEI and KJ6IJ in San Jose for the better part of half an hour. Signals were 10-20 over S9, like they were sitting next door. The band was still in great shape when they signed and I got a call from KF5VQY in Arlington TX afterward.

It's been many years, even decades since I made a 10m contact, so it was pretty cool. Hoping for more good days before storm season arrives.

[W2VW]

A lot of folks missed out this season due to forecasts.

Glad you got a sample of the continued fun.

Who wants to predict when it will close this year???

I hear a lot of guys on other bands and especially the internet talking about how dead 10AM is. Funny thing is 15 appears that way to me because my antenna is a poor performer there.

[KL7OF]

10 and 15 have both been open almost daily for the past month

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Unless 10m is hopping with stations it would be easy to think it was dead if you were one of the 'listen only' types. Several times when I was working on something in the garage and had the receiver tuned around 29 MHz it was very quiet. Then someone in Idaho or somewhere would seemingly appear out of nowhere, S9+20, responding to stations I couldn't hear. Same with 15. So it pays to throw out a few calls to see who can hear you. I was fortunate that the guys I worked were in QSO with each other and another 5 lander I couldn't hear when I went back out to the station yesterday.

I think there will be plenty more days coming with great conditions, just hope I get to enjoy more of it. Especially some mornings when the Europeans and booming in.

I hear a lot of guys on other bands and especially the internet talking about how dead 10AM is. Funny thing is 15 appears that way to me because my antenna is a poor performer there.

Yeah, well....you know how those internet guys are.    I find it ironic that so many folks talk about how bad conditions have been, how dead the upper bands are and so on, yet almost any day I tune through the 11m band on one of the receivers in the house and it's screaming with activity.

'ZRF was right.

[W2VW]

10 and 15 have both been open almost daily for the past month

10 has been open here almost daily since the 3rd week of September : )

[Steve - K4HX]

Indeed. This fall and winter season has been much better than last year's for 10 meter propagation.

[W2VW]

A year ago fall was about similar here.

One thing is for sure. Last year and 2 years ago 10AM was dead by the present date except for E openings to Wisconsin early evenings.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Obviously, the sunspot numbers over the last two months, indicate that good propagation exists to 10 meters and up (depending on the MUF, time of day, etc.). However, on AM, what I've noticed is a big drop in the number of active Eastern and Western European AM stations as we rolled into January and February as compared to what we were working back in September through December. I haven't worked or heard any strong Russian or Eastern block countries since December. Haven't heard any Japanese stations since early December. Haven't heard or worked any South American stations since December. Of course, some of the European main stays are still hanging in there although some are not as strong as they were back in the Fall; Aldo is still my "beacon".

On the plus side, I've noticed an increase in the number of active domestic U.S. stations since the fall. Yesterday morning, when I was signing with  Carlos, CT4RK, with only 24 watts with the Flex, a WA6 CA station called me. I didn't initially hear him since my beam was pointing towards Europe, but Carlos heard him just above his noise level and informed me. I then rolled the beam around and worked him. Later in the afternoon I worked several more U.S. stations all with just the Flex running barefoot. I even worked W5RKL, with his 4.5 watt converted Messenger 223 CB rig with great signals. What I find interesting is that I have not heard or worked any Southern stations (FL, GA, AL) or any XE stations yet on 10M AM yet I've worked them numerous times on 10M SSB. If things hang in, in another two months or so, Sporadic E type openings will start making a decent appearance on 10 M and then watch those S-meters climb.

On the further plus side, even 6 meters is starting to show consistent openings of TEP, F2, and Sporadic E around the world, but duh, mostly not here in the U.S.

[W2VW]

Get on 28425 and work 10 10 Todd. He's always out there. You can use AM. Problem solved.

[KL7OF]

Get on 28425 and work 10 10 Todd. He's always out there. You can use AM. Problem solved.

Todd is my beacon

[Steve - K4HX]

W0KIZ and WD7F heard at sunset here. Called CQ but no answer. I'm sooo pissweak...