LA8AJA's homepage

And here you can enjoy some of my recordings from April.

Soundclips:

• 9N7AN 17M CW
• JW/F8DVD 40M CW – lots of flutter
• HP1/IZ6BRN 17M CW – A new one on LoTW
• 5M2TT 30M CW – Could not get through
• KH8/AI5P 30M CW – Could not get through, would have been a new one on CW and 30M
• AH7C 12M CW – Could not get through
• KH2/N2NL 17M CW – Big signal and big pile, could not break it
• XV4YY 15M CW – Another one I couldn't get
• FS/F5JSD 40M CW
• FY5PO 15M CW – A new one on LoTW
• EN50UG 30M CW – Special call by UX5UO

I haven't worked any 6M qsoes since June 13th. The conditions just haven't been there. At least no good conditions. This changed yesterday. The band was open to many places in Europe, but I couldn't hear anything interesting. I was then alerted by LA8HGA that MS0INT was active in IO57. That was a new grid for me, but I didn't hear him. After listening to the frequency for a while, suddenly he was calling CQ with a strong signal. IO57 and EU-059 were both new. The island was St. Kilda. A few minutes later, I worked G8T in IN79. That is a pretty rare grid as well and I've only worked it once before. Those two qsoes were worked around 15z.

The band was more or less open the rest of the day, but it wasn't until around 20z that something interesting was finally heard up here. PV8ABC in FJ92 was calling cq on 50110. I finally got the skip and worked him. That was a new grid and my first PY since PY5CC was worked in 2000. PV8AZ was also on frequency and I got him too. Almost an hour later, 9Y4D was worked with a good signal. Nothing new, but a nice dx anyhow. 10 minutes later, VY2ZM finally came out of the noise and was worked. While listening around the band, TF/DL3GCS popped up. I quickly worked him for a new grid on Iceland, HP93. Around 22z, the band showed yet again signs across the pond. N3DB was worked in FM18 and I worked another 8 stations, 4 of them that I hadn't worked before. The band was open for maybe 45 minutes, but the signals were mostly weak, and I couldn't hear anything other than stations situated at the east-coast. I then turned of the radio and went to bed.

If you look at the picture, you see the openings. I couldn't get all of the callsigns to show on the picture, but you get the idea.

After the A4 opening I reported about in the last post, I didn't work anything until June 8th. Janne OH5LID had planned a trip to activate several squares on 4M and 6M. I was lucky enough to work him on JT6M on June 8th from KP17. That was my first new grid thanks to Janne.

June 9th gave me EA8MT in IL27 and EA8/DL3GCS in IL07 for two new grids on 6M.

June 10th gave me 2 x 4X stations and SM/OH5LID in KP06 for my second new grid. The muf increased to the point that 2M suddenly opened. I don't have a yagi up, but I connected my vertical and managed to work OE3FVU JN78 And HA1FV JN87 on 2M SSB. JN87 was a new grid for me.

June 11th had a 6M ES opening to UY, YO, LZ, YU, OM, SP, HA, I and 9A. I finished the day with SM/OH5LID in JP94 and JP85. Janne gave me yet another 2 new grids on 6M.

I only worked one 6M qso on June 12th, and guess who, Janne again! SM/OH5LID was worked from JP84. In only a few days, Janne managed to give me 5 new grids on 6M. Thank you very much for the expedition and the great job you did!

I finished Janne's trip on June 13th with OH5LID in KP25 on 6M. That wasn't a new grid, but I had only worked it once before.

Janne was in fact quite easy to work from all locations, however I didn't expect to work him from all those grids. Read about Janne's trip here. You might also want to see the most wanted grids on VHF/UHF or even submit your needed grids here.

After the big aurora on May 28th, the band suddenly opened to the south-east with sporadic-e. I worked UR, ER, OM, YO and 3 x 4Z stations. Suddenly the band shifted a bit more to the south and south-west. I finished with a CT station. I didn't bother to work too many stations in that opening.

May 31st, the band opened again, but I only bothered working the stations. One of the stations were 5B4AIF on 6M SSB. He was very strong and I heard him for several hours. The second was 4Z5LY on 6M SSB. The third stations was TA2AD in KN51. That was a new gridsquare for me.

I didn't work anything else until Thursday June 2nd. I noticed A45XR being spotted down in Europe and also in OZ. I turned the yagi around and tuned in. I could hear him on 50110 CW. I gave him a call and he quickly got back to me for #130 on 6M and gridsquare #658. I noticed A61Q was spotted further down the band. To my surprise, I started hearing him too. However, I could not get his attention at all. He worked few stations with lots of CQ's. Turned out, this wasn't the time to log A6. I heard him for 40-45 minutes. During this opening, I did also copy several EP and YK TV transmitters.

Soundclips:

• A45XR 6M CW – Thanks for the new one on 6M
• A61Q 6M CW – He didn't hear me

The K-index seemed to be high both on Friday and also Saturday morning. I didn't really bother to check the hf-bands though. I went to 6M and the usual 49750 tv-transmitter was strong, indicating quite a good aurora. I did however not expect it to be this good. I scanned the band and found a few beacons and a few stations on. I didn't hear anything special going, so I found a frequency and started calling. That was the start of a 2 hour run. I worked nearly 70 qsoes ranging from ES in the east, GM to the west, SM2 to the north and PA and DL to the south. If you look at the picture, the opening was quite widespread and I worked plenty of new stations that I hadn't worked before. I even managed two new gridsquares. That was not something I expected. OY1R Regin called me from IP61 with a nice and strong signal. YL3IQ called in from KO17 giving me my second new gridsquare.

I have now worked 656 gridsquares on 6M and I think I've worked 8 new gridsquares this year.