Sidchase3 wrote:

I've been using a Sony 7600G since 1998. Although I've used the SSB setting to
listen to ham radio operators, I listened to an AFRTS station (Key West) for
the first time the other night. According to Passport this SSB station is
transmitting at only 8Kw. It came in passably well.

Why is it that WBCQ with its 50Kw transmitter is so often lost in static? I
know that SSB greatly reduces the power needed to propagate effectively, but I
don't understand why a domestic station has such abysmal propagation. In the
winter BCQ often disappears for weeks or even months in the late evening. I
also know that the station is cobbled together, but what is it exactly that
they are doing wrong? Is it the quality of parts, the location of the station
in Maine, etc.? Could someone with expertise venture a technical opinion? I
understand that some people dislike WBCQ for its programming content, but I'm
really only interested in the technical aspects.

Thanks, Bill

Why does WBCQ disappear for you after a certain time of night? It's called
propagation. I don't know where you are located, but what is happening is that the
band goes 'long', and when that happens you are in the 'skip zone' and the signal
is essentially going right over your head!

That's the short answer.

Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B
"I swear by, not at, Drake receivers" ©

http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm