UK amateurs experience echo phenomenon
Two UK radio amateurs have reported hearing strong echoes on their 80m CW signals in the evening last week.
Tony, G3ZRJ in Herefordshire and Andrew, GW3OQK in Swansea were in QSO on 1 January when they could hear another signal underneath theirs. It turned out to be an echo of their own signals.
Tony said the echoes were initially so strong that he had trouble monitoring his CW keying. The delay in the echoes was of the order of 0.25 to 0.5 seconds and the echo strength hit S9. Tests by Andrew on the evening of 3 January revealed the same phenomena at around 2100Z, albeit weaker.
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Steve Nichols, G0KYA |
Steve, G0KYA, chairman of the RSGB's Propagation Studies Committee, said that these were unlikely to
be round-the-world echoes, but could be due to a form of magnetospheric ducting where signals follow the earth's magnetic field lines down to the southern hemisphere before being bounced back along the same duct. Steve said that this was quite rare and not really understood.
UK amateurs are being urged to look out for any echoes on their 80m signals and report any findings to G0KYA@QSL.NET
GB2RS
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