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I never expected this one. Conditions has been very bad lately on 6M. This was on June 30th and I was listening on JW7QIA on 6M with a nice signal. I then noticed SM and OH spotting FS. I turned the yagi and there he was with a weak signal. After a few minutes he came up and I got him in the log. Thanks again Jimmy for another new one on 6M (#128 6M).

Soundclips

• FS/W6JKV 6M CW  – Jimmy giving me another new one

Several people have asked about how I make the maps I use on this page. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here are a few examples:

These maps are made in Google Earth. Download the program for free from here. To help me plot the path, I use Ham Radio Deluxe. That is another free program and you can get it here. If you are using this logging program already, it shouldn't be a problem. I don't, so I have to import the contacts. I do this via an adif-export from my other logging program. The important thing here is to fill out all the gridsquares in the contacts. To get the most accurate plot, use all the six letters. And also remember to set your homelocation. When all that is ok, choose the contacts you want to plot, rightclick -> lookup -> Google Earth. If everything is correctly set up, you should have a nice map with the plots.

Now comes a second question I got. If you look at my maps, you see I have the fields drawn up too. This is made with an overlay from HAM Atlas. Get it for free here.

Thanks to VE2XK. It was at his website I first found these types of maps. Check it out here.

I got a few pictures from Peter today.  He has been active from Kapp Linné JW7SIX beacon qth since Sunday evening. The locator is JQ68tb. He has 2 3 element yagies on 6M and one 5 element yagi for 4M. Right now you can check for Peter on 6M on 50098.5KHz or 50130KHz and 4M on 70270KHz. He will be qrv till July 2nd 2010. 

He was also active from JW5E JQ78tf prior to Sunday where he also worked several contacts into Europe. A new 5 element yagi was put up at the top of the tower at JW5E, so hopefully it will help a bit with the activity.

QSL for the acitivity is via homecall to LA7QIA. 

Soundclip:

• JW7QIA 6M CW – JQ68tb June 27th 2010
• JW7QIA 6M CW – JQ68tb June 29th 2010 – heavy qsb and dopplershift – conditions were disturbed this evening

It was late Wednesday evening June 22nd. I couldn't sleep and I had to go to the toilet. Being a 6M-maniac, I had to check if something was happening on the band before I went back to bed. Right away I knew I had to turn on the radio. I was seeing a path open from Europe to Japan. When I got on the radio, I was hearing inband TV, but no signals. After tuning the band up and down for a while, I started hearing JL8GFB. I tried to call, but I couldn't make it. JH7MSB was in too, but he only continued his cq. JH0RNN was spotted and I could hear him, but no luck there either. I alerted LA7HJA and he started to listen. He got through to JH0RNN. A few minutes later, I managed to work JH0RNN for a new grid. JE1BMJ started cqing. I could hear him weak and after a few minutes, he came up and we managed a qso. That was a new gridsquare and a new field. LA7HJA was calling for Japan on 50085, and had a small pile-up going. I could hear several of the stations weakly, but he has a much better take-off that way and I never could get any reply on my cqing. After LA7HJA worked JL8GFB, JL8GFB started calling again. After a few minutes, he came up too and we finally made it. That too was another new gridsquare and field. I managed to work only JH0RNN, JE1BMJ and JL8GFB in this opening. LA7HJA managed 12 qsoes. OY, OZ, EI, SM, G, GM, PA and OH had this special nighttime opening.

I did hear VE8BY/b, but no stations that way. OZ/SM/SP/LA were heard on backscatter and EI was probably in direct. OH9SIX/b and JW9SIX/b were in from time to time too.

Another very special qso I have to mention, was the one where JL8GFB worked VE1PZ, both of them were beaming to Europe. Yet again 6M shows it's magic.

Soundclips:

• JL8GFB 6M CW – Man, new grid and field
• JH7MSB 6M CW – could not hear me
• JH0RNN 6M CW - new grid
• JE1BMJ 6M CW – Han, new grid and field

Sunday June 20th brought another good opening Stateside. I was seeing skips from Europe. I started listening to the north-west, but I coudn't hear anything, so I started calling myself. K3KO was the first one to answer. I continued to call but no DX showed up. I was answered by OY4TN and IB0CW. LA8HGA started calling too, and it turned out that he had better skips then me. He started working into the midwest with TX and KS among others. I couldn't hear anything.

I took a dinner break, and was back an hour later. I started calling and was answered by Terry K4RX in EM70. K4QL followed in FM05. 10 minutes past and finally N5JR in TX answered me. Another surprise followed shortly with N5JEH from NM. A few qsoes later, I got my ODX qso for the day at over 8100km with W3XO/5 in EM00. W5KI kalled in from AR, giving me my third new state. K4XO from TN called and yet another new state. W5IF from OK gave me my fifth new state. A few more qsoes with TX was worked and then N4XM from KY called in, new state number six. My last USA contact turned out to be yet another new state with K5ZK in MS.

A total of 23 qsoes, 10 states (AR, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, NM, OK, TN, TX) and 18 grids (DM65, EM00, EM02, EM03, EM12, EM13, EM13, EM26, EM35, EM36, EM43, EM55, EM56, EM70, EM73, EM78, FM05, FM06) were worked.

LA8HGA and LA7HJA worked further than me to the west with both of them working stations from CA and AZ. LA7HJA even worked WA.

This opening to the US was like no other I have experienced. Hopefully I'll be able to do it again some time. Once in a while, 6M really is the magic band.