ZD8SIX on Ascension
	Propagation Experience

The ESA Ariane tracking station on the east side of the island.

Unlike my trip to the Falklands in April, I fully expected to get good propagation from Ascension. Bearing in mind its geographic location and my carefully chosen time (at the peak of cycle-23. Propagation has lived up and definitely exceeded anything that I could have hoped for. I have had at least some propagation every day, although two were quieter than the others.

The propagation had following characteristics:

o The first two nights produced pure, strong evening TEP to Europe starting at 20:00 on the dot in the evening. There was nothing during daylight hours that I noticed and I was wrongly convincing myself that I wouldn’t be seeing any during my stay.

o For the first two nights, the propagation shifted from Europe to the Caribbean at around 22:30 in the late evening (though European signals didn't die away).

o Sunday, onwards I did not see any early evening European TEP  but the late evening Caribbean TEP occurred every evening while on the island.

The Ascension island prison, although it doesn't get used much except for traffic offences I understand!

o Sunday onwards, propagation shifted strongly to morning TEP starting at about 11:00 and dying at 13:00. On these days I did not see any early evening TEP to Europe.

o On two nights, the TEP turned into long-path openings that lasted for over two hours. This surprised me, as I thought that long-path openings were transient in nature. Signals were strong and had no flutter of any sort, almost like E_s openings.

USAF communications stuff I assume near the Wideawake airstrip. Notice how they've sliced off the top of the hill to form a platform!

I am forced to wonder why this major shift from early evening to morning TEP happened? What triggered it? I guess it happens all the time. Late night long-path openings seemed to be independent of whether there was either a morning or early evening TEP opening earlier. When I was experiencing the long path openings Jose, EH7KW and Nick, 5B4FL experienced them as well. Were they experiencing a weaker version of what I was hearing? It was certainly different as neither heard FO or BV.

Anyway, all this is summed by Neil, G0JHC by saying in an e-mail while I was on Ascension: "I bet you wish you lived there" Boy, he could be right!