The above SNR graph shows the longest connection I ever had with Gary on 28 MHz over our distance of about 16,300 km. It was a day with geomagnetic unrest that occurred around 20:30 UTC. Clearly, the ionosphere recovered fast and perhaps the unrest did some good as well. Even after over 5 hours, the link was still going when it was disconnected.
What does this mean?
Well, first and foremost it means that 10m is now certainly a good DX band for many or most days of a month. Secondly, it shows how robust a DX connection with Vara (VarAC) can be. It also means that some 10m DX paths enjoy good propagation over long periods of time in the present season.
Surely, this also depends on the antennas we use. Gary has a trapped dipole about 15m above ground. That height creates multiple lobes in the vertical antenna diagram at 10m wavelength. With the progress of the QSO time it may well be possible that different take-off angles were needed and Gary's antenna could deliver. My antenna is a 3-element Ultrabeam at an effective height of at least 13m (ground reflection point as reference). My ground is sloping downwards in Gary's direction. So, yes, we have quite good antennas.
An end-fed antenna can work well on 10m. The fixed antenna diagram is, however, a strong limitation.
It is relatively easy to make a simple & compact Moxon 2-element antenna for the 10m band. I did that recently for a local friend. His comment was: "This antenna hears everything". He spent most time on FT8 before he got the Moxon. Now I hear him frequently reporting about spectacular SSB DX contacts with 100Watts.
73
Dieter, VK3FFB
Actually my dipole is only 10M AGL, and our power levels were both about 75W or so.