8P9HA, invariably the last DX station heard here, typically an hour or so after the last US-based station, shows the benefits not only an all-sea path, but of having both antenna systems in excellent locations. LX1DQ and I were the only two stations outside North America hearing the 8P station at this time (since 2 hours).
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| Doesn't get much better as a radio location - QTH area of 8P9HA. |
The only other DX station heard late into the night, as is often the case, and without much by way of a convincing explanation for propagation at this time, was HC6PE, last heard at 00:50 (-21dB SNR/2500Hz). Unlike the case of 8P9HA, HC6PE was being heard by a small number of stations in Europe as late as 01:54 (OE9GHV, -22dB SNR/2500Hz).
The path at this late hour from HC (and 8P) to Europe is well worth musing over; it is an extraordinarily unusual propagation for the near-mid winter, night-time hemisphere. There was moderate geomagnetic disturbance at around this time, which does tend to produce electrons of the correct energy for these anomalous spots.
It's tempting, without anything other than speculation, to wonder if the signal from HC is travelling up the greyline to the north, into the morning hemisphere, then being directed by the auroral oval to the west, over northern Russia. That would be quite spectacular if true, though the coherence of the signal would surely suffer to the point of making this path impossible. Even if it's FAI or other, patchy ionisation that is responsible for a more direct path, it's still quite remarkable, given the difference in latitude between the stations.
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| Image: DX Atlas, with permission. |
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| Stackplot of geomagnetic conditions, Greenland East line. Image: Tromso Geophysical Laboratory. |
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| Aurora forecast. Image: NOAA. |
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