Hopeful of good propagation

Well the ARRL SSB weekend has been very encouraging for propagation during the DXpedition in a few days time. On 10m I managed 20 QSO’s with BC, CA, AZ, OR and WA around 2300-0100 UTC. On the island I was going to check out 10m mainly for JA around this time, however I’ll have the Spiderbeam pointing to USA as well. 20m during the weekend was a bust and I could only make contacts with the K/VE big guns on 15m. However each evening 40m was fantastic and I was even able to generate a few short runs into the east coast. I wasn’t competing in the contest, I was simply testing the DXpedition antennas. So I’ll make a big effort in the 0730 – 1200 UTC on 40m to work the America’s.

So at this stage, I would say my operating patterns on the first couple of days would be a bit like this:

Thursday

0100 UTC      Arrive at Horn Island and gather supplies

0700 UTC      Have antenna’s and operating position set-up and ready to go

0700-1200     40m SSB short path for America’s and Asia

1200-              20m SSB short path to Europe until band dies, then back to 40m SSB

                        and PSK31 for west coast North America

1400'ish         off to bed to recharge the batteries

1900-2100     40m SSB short path for Europe and Asia

2100-0000     15m SSB short path for America’s and Asia

Friday

0000-0200     15m and 10m SSB short path for America’s and Asia

0200-0300     lunch break

0300-0500     15m SSB short path for Asia

0500-0730     20m SSB long path for Europe/short path South America

0730-1200     40m SSB short path for America’s and Asia

1200-              20m SSB short path to Europe until band dies, then back to 40m SSB

                         and PSK31 for west coast North America

1400'ish         off to bed to recharge the batteries

1900-2100     40m SSB short path for Europe and Asia

2100-0000     15m SSB short path for America’s and Asia

Hopefully this pattern will result in an equal spread of QSO’s between Europe, Asia and the America’s. I’ll be listening above 7175 for US generals and probably be transmitting around 7125 or lower to avoid QRM.  

For the Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be spending a lot of time on 15m during 2200-0900 UTC. Anyway, I’ll see how things go, fingers crossed for 10m openings too.