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Solar minimum got you down?

BJ radionut said:
Looks like BAD A$$ Beams(and more power)
for 20 and 40 meters or it's no DX Boys:eek::cry:

Pretty much means 15 MHZ up will be pretty much a WASTELAND:mad::(
Click to expand...

Well DAMN!! I was going to sell my new never installed (but assembled twice) Explorer 14 and A3WS and replace them with a TH-11DX. Then we decided to go to Newfoundland this summer AND the Elton John farewell tour concert in Saskatoon Saskatchewan this fall so I told the wife I would install the EX-14 and A3WS as originally planned and forget about the TH-11DX. Not sure just how to break the news to her that the TH-11DX might happen after all.
 
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Skip was running pretty good here in NC again yesterday evening. I had a project going but listened to lots of stations.

"Witchdoctor" was coming in strong from Trinidad...as usual. Eventually direction seemed to shift and "Uncle Burl" was strong from Wisconsin on a 2995-DX and four element beam.

I QSO'd with stations 1414 Chicago, World Radio 1958 Iowa, World Radio 1240 Wisconsin, and very briefly with one in Delaware.

Then the Andy Griffith Show (Mayberry RFD) came on TV and captured me from 8:00 -9:00. Beings they local North Carolina folk and all. :whistle:
 
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:whistle:
S&W357 said:
Skip was running pretty good here in NC again yesterday evening. I had a project going but listened to lots of stations.

"Witchdoctor" was coming in strong from Trinidad...as usual. Eventually direction seemed to shift and "Uncle Burl" was strong from Wisconsin on a 2995-DX and four element beam.

I QSO'd with stations 1414 Chicago, World Radio 1958 Iowa, World Radio 1240 Wisconsin, and very briefly with one in Delaware.

Then the Andy Griffith Show (Mayberry RFD) came on TV and captured me from 8:00 -9:00. Beings they local North Carolina folk and all. :whistle:
Click to expand...
Mmmm...missed the skip, was out clipping a field, missed my blood pressure elevation show, ............nightly news. Did catch some of the go'ins on's in Mayberry tho, Opey somehow can catch rainbow trout out of a pond. Amazing.:whistle::whistle:
 
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Ummm.....Aren't Rainbows native to Pacific, oh never mind, I just read where they have been introduced all over N. America. But typically a Oncorhynchus mykiss is native to Pacific Oceans and requires a 3 year commute to salt water and then returns to spawn in fresh. But I see where they introduced fresh water variety around the Great Lakes and are called steel head.

Little Ronnie Howard sure could catch sum fish....Paw!
 
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Solar minimum didn't get me down, because:
1.DX noise is a pain in the a$$ on CB, disturbing local QSO's. Shouldn't be there at all.
2. There is plenty of other bands where DX is all the time regardless sun activity.
3. Good time to improve antenna systems to tx and rx better.
Mike
 
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I was actually able to talk to a couple guys out in Noble OK the other day. First time I have heard skip from somewhere other than the East coast, mainly FL and GA.

409 Sam, in Noble, and his neighbor who never ID'd himself. They said I was coming in over most of the noise, made me feel good to actually hear that I was getting out for once!
 
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Contrary to the above semi inebriated Kop, it is somewhat dismal, not much on my poor boy social media network. But like sp5it stated....time to work on antenna improvements. Maybe I'll get to building that cubical quad, after I move that stupid chicken coop or burn it to the ground.
 
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Two days ago, Saturday, I made 2 barefoot contacts on 11m. One was 351 Idaho by the Canadian border, the other was 230 in the diesel car Pendleton, Oregon. I'm kinda digging this solar minimum, when the band opens, I can see about making a connection, otherwise I can chat with the locals...
 
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walterjn said:
Two days ago, Saturday, I made 2 barefoot contacts on 11m. One was 351 Idaho by the Canadian border, the other was 230 in the diesel car Pendleton, Oregon. I'm kinda digging this solar minimum, when the band opens, I can see about making a connection, otherwise I can chat with the locals...
Click to expand...

You got locals? Man I'm jealous......:) Got one guy up in town every now and then when he gets drunk. Always wanting me to build him an antenna or talking about an A99. But that Cobra 25 or 29 with a K40 Mag mount stuck up on his shed sure works good. (y)

Yesterday on 19 caught skip to Miami, Lake Charles, and Maryland. Weird. Later, on 28 made couple contacts before the close. Funny how a homebuilt GP w/ a 102" whip @ 36 foot will make those contacts. Yes, I'm proud of my Homebuilt StarBuster. Will be eventually getting to building a 2 or 3 element cubical quad for 11m.

Just gotta find my Roundtuit.


I miss not having a working 148, ssb seems to make better contacts. My fun money set aside for repairs got spent other week at the dentists office. (n) So I guess I still got the Solar Minimum Blues. :cry::cry::cry:
 
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