Hi Dennis,

 

     The TP's this morning sounded pretty anemic to me, compared to yesterday.  When chasing TP's with stock Ultralights, you are really at the mercy of propagation.  If you had tried yesterday (like Colin in Victoria, BC, who was thrilled to log JOIB-747 and JOUB-774 for his first stock Ultralight TP's), you might have scored big.

 

     Anyway, you'll have many more great chances coming up!  When using the 2010 as a spotting receiver, I put all the powerhouse TP frequencies in the 2010's upper memory buttons, in SSB mode.  You can check all of them for carrier strength within a minute.  If they all sound hopeless 30 minutes before sunrise, propagation is probably in the tank.  For me, that means pulling the switch.

 

     If your frequencies like 747, 774 and 828 show some fairly strong SSB carriers 30 minutes before sunrise, head for that beach!  Don't tune from the top of the band (or bottom of the band), just keep checking your Powerhouse TP frequencies in memory, and wait for one of them to come up to audio level.  Then, when audio is sufficiently strong on the 2010, go get them with your Ultralight.

 

     There is no doubt that you will have many chances to log booming TP's this fall, Dennis!  Follow the steps above, and you'll nail them very soon.

 

     73,  Gary   

Is it possible that at the beach starting about half an hour before
sunrise I heard more than two dozen TP carriers on a barefoot Sony
2010? They were all pretty weak and none yielded any audio. I started
at the top of the band, which seemed logical at the time. Looking back
at it that was possibly a serious mistake. Which end should I start
at? I listened from 1310 to 1342; comparing that to other logs that's
too late.

At home about an hour before sunrise I had a huge carrier on 549 on
the barefoot 2010 but there was little to no audio. I heard what
sounded like some sort of Oriental music. 550 was weaker but had
plenty of audio. I didn't even try 549 on the DT-400W at home because
the 2010 could barely separate them and a DT-400W isn't going to
separate two stations 1 KHz. apart. I keep seeing logs that say a
carrier was quite strong but there was little or no audio. What would
cause that?

I think I need to start earlier next time. I thought Gary said be
there half an hour before sunrise, which is what I did. By that time
the huge carrier on 549 was pretty weak.

73