Anyone listening to ZS6CCY (S. Africa) working North America on 14.191 USB?

[racin06]

Wow, this Ham (ZS6CCY) in Vaalwater, South Africa (120 miles north of Johannesburg) is working all of North America. I've been listening for the past hour (current time is 2100 UTC) on my Icom IC-R75 and this guy is booming into my receiver and is working Canana, Southern California, North Dakota, Texas, North Carolina and Florida (I'm also hearing the stations that ZS6CCY is working)! I believe this is the farthest I have ever heard a Ham from my home here in Indiana.

I am also hearing ZS6CCY on my Icom IC-R20 with just the stock telescopic antenna! I would say that conditions are very good at this moment!

[safetyobc]

I can hear him here in Arkansas at 21:34

[brandon]

Nice catch.
What kind of antenna are you using?

[racin06]

Originally Posted by brandon

Nice catch.
What kind of antenna are you using?

I am using a home-made, indoor, 4ft. by 4 ft., square-shapped, coaxial loop antenna constructed per the instructions at http://www.greertech.com/hfloop/mymagloop.html. Though, this is a pretty good antenna (for an indoor antenna), I would say the reason for the catch was due to extremely good atmospheric conditions because I was still able to hear the Ham on my R20 (hand-held wideband receiver) with just the stock telescopic antenna.

[brandon]

Cool! Thanks for the info about that coax loop antenna. Looks like a fun little project.

I always get excited when hearing stations from Africa. Conditions have been good out here in SoCal the past week as I've been hearing Dakar MWARA on 6535 USB nearly every evening. Even the planes can be heard (I hear them talking to Varig flights, Lufthansa, Springbok, etc..)You may want to try that freq and see if you can hear it from your QTH.

[racin06]

Originally Posted by brandon

Cool! Thanks for the info about that coax loop antenna. Looks like a fun little project.

I always get excited when hearing stations from Africa. Conditions have been good out here in SoCal the past week as I've been hearing Dakar MWARA on 6535 USB nearly every evening. Even the planes can be heard (I hear them talking to Varig flights, Lufthansa, Springbok, etc..)You may want to try that freq and see if you can hear it from your QTH.

Thanks for the info and I will give 6535 a try.

[kb2vxa]

Hi y'all,

That's pretty good and uncommon at this point in the sunspot cycle. At it's peak I worked the world daily from my landlord's station, 5W to 1KW, DC to light with great propagation was a blast. BTW, the one and only time I used the amplifier was to bust the "California Curtain" and failed. All contacts were made with 100W or less. Even at this point in the cycle the higher bands open once in a while, it's usually quite unexpected so you have to listen regularly and call CQ if you have a license. More often than not the light's on but nobody's home.

[Al42]

Originally Posted by kb2vxa

Even at this point in the cycle the higher bands open once in a while, it's usually quite unexpected so you have to listen regularly and call CQ if you have a license. More often than not the light's on but nobody's home.

Warren, get on PSK and listen on 20, 40 and 80. I've gotten some nice DX on 20 at night, and 40 and 80 are easy for making Qs - and I run 50 watts (courtesy - no one runs more on PSK) to an old R7 mounted on the ground.

[brandon]

FYI....
ZS6GF (South Africa) is up on 14205. Strong signal into SoCal.