1 MAR (0400-0600) good DX opening

[wa1ion@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mark Connelly )]

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There was a great high-band opening on medium-wave between
0400 and 0600 UTC on 1 MAR.  Earlier the band seemed slightly 
auroral with Colombia-1170 over WWVA, etc.  At 0152 UTC, there 
was some evidence of dawn enhancement into the Middle East region:
on the "Euro-sloper" antenna, a bubble jammer was clobbering 
WSAI-1530 on the lower sideband, bits of audio from VOA 
Kuwait - 1548, a 1476 carrier (likely UAE), and Saudi Arabia 
on 1512 getting by 15 km distant 50 kW powerhouse WNRB-1510.

Still, as late as 0304, conditions seemed slanted to the southerly
regions: at that time there was an absolutely enormous signal from
VOA Sao Tome on 1530.  Any of the other channel occupants - WSAI,
Vatican, and Middle East jammers - were so far under Sao Tome that
they were barely perceptible.  Saudi Arabia - 1521 was good, but 
not exceptional, at the time.

By 0400, things got more interesting and the effects of the grey-
line terminator approaching the transmitter-dense western Europe
area became apparent.  For the next two hours, nearly every 
channel from 999 to 1611 had European signals coming through.
The low end of the dial just had some of the routine "bone crushers"
from Spain, France, etc.  The real action was on the high end.
Some of the channels shared with US stations were as good as the
"splits": notably Vatican-1530 (now taking over from Sao Tome and
totally burying WSAI as well) and Luxembourg-1440.  Also I had
Spain-1080 almost even with a weaker-than-usual ("skipping over")
WTIC.  The loggings go to several pages.  These were made at home,
about 25 km inland, not from a "super" beach site.  I have found
that local sunset period logs (winter: 2000-2300 UTC) are more
adversely affected by moving away from the immediate seashore.
Euro-dawn (typically 0400-0700 UTC) skip arrival angles must be a 
bit higher above the horizon.  Signals are still best right on the 
coast, but they don't die off as fast as you go inland (compared to
sunset DX).

I might be going out to Rockport or Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA
after work on Tuesday (4 MAR) to look for anything I may have 
missed this weekend.  Sometimes a good run of European DX precedes 
an auroral "blow-out".  That would certainly be a welcome event.  
At a top-notch site such as Rockport, one can dig for those rare 
Africans and deep South Americans when the aurora blanks out 
domestic skip and the big Europeans that often get in the way 
of the truly rare DX.

Mark Connelly - WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA