QSO with Gedas W8BYA - A New Grid, #70!

 For the past several months, I've been trying to confirm EM58 for Gedas W8BYA.  We've had several "almosts.' Either I could hear him and he couldn't hear me or vice-versa.  Throughout that time, I've been looking for "good" uW spots to operate.  We found one near Staunton, IL but the vacant restaurant proprietor is a bit touchy about us operating from her vacant parking lot.  Oh well.

I have in-laws living in Vandalia, IL and that city borders EM58 and EM59.  Why not try to work Gedas from there and also visit in-laws?  It's closer to Gedas than from Staunton.

As luck would have it, summer weather patterns are still with us in early fall.  An omega block was setting up over the Midwest.  It wasn't nowhere as intense as the one in September.  In September we had heat indices between 110-115 F with relative humidity approaching the upper 70s and very little wind.  In a word, the weather was oppressive. This go-around it was nice to be outside, but propagation suffers.

Last July, I presented an hypothesis at the CSVHFS conference which theorized there are inland, atmospheric seas that propagate uW signals through ET (evapotranspiration), high pressure systems, high relative humidity levels and little to no wind present.

This Sunday, October 1, we have a weaker omega block, nowhere near the high relative humidity levels, lower ET values and a southeast wind as the high pressure system begins to move eastward.  With temps in the 70s F and RH of 60 degrees there was still some 3 cm present.  I located myself at Vandalia, IL EM58kx municipal airport next to a hangar and eventually worked Gedas W8BYA in EN70jt, 394 km or 245 miles away to my northeast.  QSB was very much present.  Still, we managed a CW QSO at 18:28 Z.  We were on the ragged edge, with RST of419 at best on peaks and 319 on average.

It was interesting to listen/see our signals rise and fade over a 10 to 15 minute time span as we beaconed.  In spite of the QSB, we persevered and we made the two-way for Gedas' 70th confirmed grid square on 10 GHz!

              NWS weather map for Sunday, 1 Oct 2023,  I added the red to indicate the omega block.

                                              Vandalia, IL EM58kx municipal airport.

                               I set-up beside a hangar and made the QSO with Gedas 394 km away!

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            Here is my signal at Gedas' end.  The squiggle in my trace is the RIT tuning me in.

Later that same afternoon, I went to Altamont, IL EM58pw about 23 miles southeast of Vandalia.  A farmer gave me permission to operate near his bean field.  By the time I was set-up and running there was absolutely no propagation to the northeast.  However, I did faintly hear the WB9PNU beacon to my west about 95 miles (153 km) away.