Nice 2 m tropo opening tonight

Coming home after work today I saw a few spots on the cluster that looked like a bit of tropo enhancement between the UK and Western Europe. So I switched on the radio to check condx and boy, was lucky I did so! Had a nice tropo opening and made some 40 QSOs, the “better ones” are listed below. Nice to experience a small “mini pileup” from western France with great distances! Interestingly the closer UK stations, i.e. G4SWX from JO02, came in best from 240°, i.e. beaming central France. It seems there was a very strong tropo scatter point down there or maybe the entry into the duct. John reported the same, he had to beam more southerly to get me strongest. There’s still something magic to VHF … I like it!

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TIME   CALLSIGN        LOCATOR TX      RX      BAND  MODE      QRB
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16:37  G8GXP           IO93FQ  57      59      2 m.  SSB      1042
16:43  GØODR           JOØ2OP  51      53      2 m.  SSB       872
16:45  G4RRA           IO8ØBS  54      55      2 m.  SSB      1263
16:47  G3SMT           IO82KV  59      59      2 m.  SSB      1156
16:48  FØGWK           IN88CM  57      55      2 m.  SSB      1361
16:53  F6KHM           IN78RJ  549     55      2 m.  SSB/CW   1416
16:53  F1AKK           IN78RJ  549     55      2 m.  SSB/CW   1416
16:54  F6FGQ           IN78QJ  52      52      2 m.  SSB      1421
16:56  F8BRK           IN99VF  56      55      2 m.  SSB      1094
16:56  F8FKJ           IN78RJ  51      51      2 m.  SSB      1416
16:57  G4SWX           JOØ2RF  59      59      2 m.  SSB       864
16:59  FØGWK           IN88CM  55      57      2 m.  SSB      1361
17:11  PA4VHF          JO32JE  599     599     2 m.  CW        512
17:13  F5DQK           JN18GR  529     519     2 m.  CW        954
17:17  G4DHF           IO92UU  559     559     2 m.  CW        969
17:34  G4DCV           IO91OF  559     559     2 m.  CW       1043
17:39  G7RAU           IO9ØIR  579     579     2 m.  CW       1094
17:48  G4MKF           IO91HJ  549     559     2 m.  CW       1076
17:56  DK9TF           JO31NF  599     559     2 m.  CW        529
17:58  F4JVG           JN16NL  41      52      2 m.  SSB      1088
18:00  DL4EBV          JO31HK  55      56      2 m.  SSB       551
18:02  FØFIG           JO1ØJE  51      51      2 m.  SSB       853
18:07  F5XU            JN15MT  52      52      2 m.  SSB      1147
18:12  DFØFHK          JO3ØLW  559     539     2 m.  CW        555
18:15  PD1AHM          JO21WF  57      55      2 m.  SSB       608
18:39  G4EAT           JOØ1HR  57      57      2 m.  SSB       933
18:41  GØGXT           IO82RF  52      55      2 m.  SSB      1130
19:20  PAØDDB          JO32KE  55      55      2 m.  SSB       506
20:36  G4EHD           IO93BS  55      58      2 m.  SSB      1064
20:58  GM8FFX          IO87WB  55      56      2 m.  SSB      1120
21:07  F6DCD           JN38RQ  55      57      2 m.  SSB       688
22:13  G4WJS           IO91NP  52      55      2 m.  SSB      1035
22:25  F4EHG           JN18EQ  53      55      2 m.  SSB       966
22:35  ON5AEN          JO1ØVW  56      56      2 m.  SSB       754
22:43  GM4AFF          IO86TS  539     519     2 m.  CW       1127
22:46  GM4AFF          IO86TS  56      57      2 m.  SSB      1127
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Didn’t think of switching on the MP3 recorder until late in the evening so just a few audio recordings this time …

GB3ANG/B, beacon 1.158 km away:

GM4AFF, Stewart, 1.127 km away, working Sandro, DD3SP:

GM8FFX, 1.120 km, struggling to work SQ1FYB QRP station:

Taking the weather reports into account the tropo will certainly shift eastwards tomorrow. So it might be possible to work into Scandinavia then. Keeping fingers crossed and looking already forward to returning from QRL tomorrow evening.