10 M Beacons & DX Stations

[N7AQX]

Hi to All: Has anyone been hearing Private low power Beacons on 10 M lately ? QTH here is Emporia, KS, about 1/2 way between Kansas City & Wichita KS. 50 Miles SW of Topeka, KS.
Havent heard anything for about 2 weeks here until today. I did copy 2 Beacons out of Fla today, W6PC (569 ) and KG4KIZ (449 ).
I see what I see, but dont necessarily Buy everything I been seeing. I ask why is it that 10 Meters dont revert to Line of Sight propagation. Line of sight is commonly referred to be 50 Miles or thereabouts. The nearest Beacon to me in in the range of 70-80- miles. Thats just a little further than 50, and might be a good reason I dont hear much. Still dont seem right to me even with that fact in mind.
Another one I ran into. Normally I can work anything I can Hear. Last weeked, (around Oct 10th ) I copied PY2XC about 579 and a CE6 about 559. Anyway several Calls to them yielded Nothing. The PY2 was using 100 Watts and a 4 Ele Quad and was working W8 & W9's likity split. Dont know what the CE Station was running. Noteably I could Not Hear the 8's & 9's.
I know theres all kinds of reasons I could not raise the 2 South American Stations, but it JUST DONT SEEM right ! Except for those 2 stations, I have Not Heard any South Americans since early April this year. I would have expected more.
One thing I would like is ...an Amateur some place around the country to compare Notes with, that has an interested in Propagation and the Quirks that go with it.
I been a Ham Since 1953 and 70 yrs old, work CW only. Thanks N7AQX

[wj5o]

Hi Dan,
I too have found ten meter propagation to be a fascinating study...just when I think I have a "handle" on it....it proves me wrong.

I too have logged the W6PC and the KG4KIZ beacons this week.... (288 miles for W6PC & 374 miles for KG4KIZ).... Line of sight?....Too distant for that..... "short skip"?..... very short.

I have found that ten meters often has the characteristics of VHF with temperature inversion "ducting".......caused by frontal systems or natural weather phenomena.

When I lived along the coast in South Texas I could expect after a very hot day to hear signals as far as the Yucatan to the South and New Orleans to the East just at dark....propagation following the coastline (I think) because of the different rate of cooling of the water and air at dusk......... Maybe thirty minutes and the conditions would disappear.

At 02:17 Z on two days ago I logged 13 beacon signals with a strong frontal system approaching from the Northwest.....with nothing heard the previous 12 hours....plus this was three hours into local darkness at my location in Southern Alabama.

Maybe catch you this weekend during the 1010 CW QSO Party.