Paul Veal, NØAH

The Front Range of Colorado experiences a worldwide 10 meter opening.

The autumnal fall equinox in the northern hemisphere always brings exciting propagation. From September 19-30, 2012 along the Front Range of Colorado, we especially enjoyed an exceptional 10 meter opening. Over 130 different DXCC countries, from all continents, were spotted from our area stations during this time.

During the late morning of September 18, I was listening to a V5/DL3ZAD (Namibia) on 10 meters and heard a couple of Italian stations in the pileup. This was fantastic as I had not heard any European stations on 10 meters in almost a year. Unfortunately, their signals faded away before I could make contact. The next day, at 2031Z, I worked my first European in nearly a year, EA7ABV (Spain), and the next 11 days would prove to be one of the longest runs of worldwide 10 meter DX to hit WØ land in a long time.

At my home in Littleton, Colorado (DM79nn) I have a Kenwood TS-590, running 90 W into an 8 element Tennadyne log periodic at 50 feet. I was able to work over 100 separate countries in what seemed like a contest environment. Many others in my area reported similar experiences.

Rich, KØZX, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, operates from a community with very stringent covenant regulations. He uses a stealth 10 meter loop with an apex at 10 feet and worked OD5NH, A45XR and A61Q, on the 27th and 28th along with several more garden variety European stations.

Jim, AD1C, reports one remarkable contact during the CQWW RTTY contest on September 30. At 2246Z he contacted OH8A (Finland), which was very late in the day for an open path to OH8. Jim was only running 100 W to a backyard multiband vertical, and his indoor dipole performed very well, especially to Japan.

Between the 28th and 30th, Richard’s, K8ZTT, big gun station in Elizabeth, Colorado, reported working a new one, 4L4WW (Georgia), for a new band-country bringing his DXCC total to 303 on 10 meters. Before that, his last new 10 meter country was in April of 2012, when he worked VKØTH.

Wide Area Opening

Great results were also reported by stations outside the Denver metro area. Phil, NØKE (DM69em), stated his highlight was the CQWW DX RTTY contest where, on 10 meters alone, he had 409 contacts in 61 countries and 26 zones. Also, on September 26 he worked T8XX (Palau) on CW and on September 27 he worked 3D2C (Conway Reef) on SSB. His main 10 meter antenna is a 3 element delta with the top at 70 feet. Phil lives near Silt, Colorado, less than 100 miles from Utah and just south of the Colorado River.

Jeremy, KF9MG, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, reports that during the two weekends, he worked over 40 separate countries in the Pacific area, South America, Europe and Africa, with a small beam fixed at 45°!

On Friday, September 30 in the early evening hours, I was hearing 9V1CY (Singapore) calling CQ in the CW portion of 10 meters. His signal began fading in the noise of an arriving solar disturbance. The great run was over. Propagation, geography and location do not always favor the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains for unique times like these on 10 meters. It was nice to have 10 meters open from Europe to southeast Asia at the same time and the band open for almost 20 hours a day. It really led to some great adventures and added up the DXCC numbers for many of us in WØ land.

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest is on December 8-9, 2012. There’ll be plenty of 10 meter DX on the band so plan to join in. Get more information at www.arrl.org/10-meter. — Ed.

All Photos by Paul Veal, NØAH.

Paul Veal, NØAH, an ARRL^® member, holds 5BDXCC and has DXCC on two other bands besides. He has a total of 329 confirmed and 330 worked. He is a past president of the Mile High DX Association. Paul is a professional educator and graduate of the ARRL Teachers Institute. He can be reached at 801 Altair Dr, Littleton, CO, 80124-2505, n0ah@arrl.net