A good tropo opening to the East

The Hepburn Tropo map (link on the sidebar) suggested that 10 December might be pretty good for tropo...

Hepburn Tropo Index 10 December 2024

As usual, click to enlarge images if necessary.

10 December was indeed a good day for the higher bands here, and conditions were still a bit enhanced until early afternoon on 11 December. I saw good conditions after that, but mostly for stations further south than me. From here there was nothing much to report later on as the high pressure slipped off to the east.

I had the first contact which indicated things were looking up on 9 December when I worked LA9AKA at +07dB. Once things began to get going the next morning I had 64 more QSOs on 144, 432 and 1296MHz.

On 144MHz I had 20 contacts, best DX being to UA1WCF in KO55 a distance of 2034km. This turned out to be the first time I have worked UA on tropo. Previous contacts on meteor scatter and moon bounce might have been greater distance, but I do find it satisfying to work long distance on tropospheric propagation. The contact with YL2LE was also my first into Latvia on tropo. I increased my total square figure by three squares.

144MHz contacts at GM4FVM 10 to 11 December 2024

As usual these days I tend to leave 2m behind and head for 70cm during a "lift" in conditions. I had 40 contacts on 432MHz, including to three new countries - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Best DX was to LY2WR in KO24 at 1726km. These are not quite distance records for me on this band, but they do show that I have never done so well due east from here. My best distances are to the south. That makes this a good opening for me, adding eight new squares too.

432MHz contacts at GM4FVM 10 to 11 December 2024

1296MHz was also productive, especially at the start of the lift. Despite only making four contacts, I was happy to reach two new squares in Sweden. Best DX was to SM0DJW in JO88 at 1242km. I reckon that I could have done more on 23cm if I had tried more modes and if I had done more listening. The big limitation on 23cm for me is the lack of activity that I can find. I stayed on the KST microwave site for the duration but most contacts do not seem to be made that way. More work is needed if I am to make 23cm as productive as it can be.

1296MHz contacts at GM4FVM 10 to 11 December 2024

That was a good opening in a direction where I had previously had fairly poor results. Another missing area is south east into the Alps and central Europe. I hope that someone is listening up there and can organise one in that direction next.

73 Jim

GM4FVM