By all means, there's lots of activity around here. If one of the satellites is passing over on your way up I'll even try you there (assuming you have a 1/4w) I noticed that you me and Ash are about equidistant in a triangle. Maybe we'll get a good tropo event this spring and pull the trifecta!
I will keep you in mind. My station is partially disassmbled at the moment but will be back online soon.
I have not been up there in a year and a half..'things may have changed since then... The 21 repeater is host to some of the finest hams youll find. Evening drive time is a riot with that bunch.
Ok Here it Goes How I look For dx open is I use my scanner or 2 meter I go to weather .gov on my end its 162.500 if its going on i hear them then I know its going on then i can go to simplex & call CQ Steve KD2LGL Out
Switch to 2m SSB and really stretch your simplex distance! My best tropo is 1260 miles to the southern tip of TX. And during that tropo opening of the century back a few years(2002? forget the year!) I heard CO2OJ in Cuba 5x4 but couldn't get past the wall of QRM to my southeast to work him. Right now with a front coming in and poor 2m band conditions I am only hearing the en53 2m CW beacon about 5x1, normal would be 5x3, good it has been 59+ and it is 350 miles from me. The beacon runs 50 watts to a pair of omni directional horizontal loops if memory serves me... Yes I have a medium sized yago array up in the air at 35 feet! 2 x M2 2m12 yagis(12 elements, 20 foot boom) and a mast mounted preamp. 2 meter tropo is a blast and once you are hoked it is for life!
I am definitely trying to get hooked on it. I am almost done with a 6 element homebrew beam, but will be able to get it up that due to HOA, but I can put it up at night and take it back down so we shall see soon. Hoepfully this weekend I will have it working. I am working with 50 watts but that should be okay into the beam for now. I will when I get moved to North Carolina try and get a good set up going for 2 meter and HF for that matter. Then I will hooked for real. Chris KG4LQZ
I've been underwhelmed so far this year - a little bit of enhancement here and there but nothing spectacular yet. We've got plenty of time left though!
I'm more inclined to look at terrain before assuming ducting. I think some folks want it to occur more than it prob does. Just a feeling. Elevation profiles from GE can be interesting to create and look at: http://www.cliffordnovey.com/?portfolio=google-earth-elevation-profiles And traditional plots too: Sign up then you can save all sorts of sites w ant specs, coordinates, etc. and his computer will crunch numbers for good rf plots: http://www.cplus.org/rmw/rmonline.html 73 Clifford
From my QTH to the southern tip of TX I cross Buffalo ridge that is 400' higher and another high spot(~200 feet higher than me)... but I do know that was a tropo opening. My path towards Chicago is just normal forward scatter mode with me the high point.
