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Well, a pretty small report this time. 6M hasn’t really produced any big dx the last week. On Sunday we had an aurora for the first time in a while. I worked OH1XT. He was the only signal on the band at that time. Nearly 3 hours later, the band opened again. I had the KP59 TV transmitter in on auroral-e. LA7SIX started appearing and then OH9SIX was also in. JP77 TV transmitter suddenly came in with a booming signal. Then the transmitter around 49750 started going auroral and stations started appearing. I called cq, but soon enough realized that I didn’t hear as well as I wanted. Several stations reported I couldn’t hear them. My problem is that I have a noise source that peaks at around 340-350 degrees. Noiseblanker does help a little bit, but the noise also kills the weak signals. I stopped cq’ing after working a few stations. Suddenly signals started coming in with clean signals, and I started hearing JW9SIX and JW7SIX. No new grids were worked in this opening, but it was fun to try aurora with my new antenna. The band was still open when I went to bed around 21z. 

On Monday, the band was open when I got home. I was listening for something new to work, and TA7X in KN90 appeared. He had a strong signal, and was easily worked. I also worked 4O3A for a new band. IT9TYR was in strong in a difficult skip-distance. 4X stations were also heard with OD and 5B beacons also coming in. I was hoping for 4J9M to show, but no signal here. Nothing was heard from the TZ or V2 expeditions either.

Soundclips:

• TA7X 6M SSB
• 4O3A 6M CW
• IT9TYR 6M SSB

New confirmations on LoTW has been slow the last few weeks, but I got a few nice surprises. Bruno IS0GQX, Pavel OD5/OK1MU and Ted HI3TEJ gave me three new ones confirmed on 6M. TA2ZAF and OD5/OK1MU gave me two new ones on LoTW, which brings my LoTW total up to #229.

6M has been more quiet the last few days. On Monday all I heard was an EA, an EA8 and 8R1DB for 10 minutes. Tuesday was a bit more alive with openings to the southeast. I heard the OD/B and also the 5B/B. I worked Ami 4X4DK with a nice signal. I heard EP-TV and also another one that might have been from YK or A6. I also worked Mike SV5BYR with a nice signal. SV9GPV was in strong from Crete, which you can hear below.

Soundclips:

• SV5BYR 6M CW
• 4Z5LA 6M SSB
• SV9GPV 6M SSB

The fun wasn’t over yet. The band was open in the morning on Sunday with one of the strongest in-band videobuzz I’ve ever heard. I started hunting for new things to work and found EA4ZK in IN80. I also tried with UW3E on CW, but faded before I got confirmation that everything was received ok. The next one was EA1MR in IN70, followed by EA1AHO in IN52. I’ve never heard so many stations from EA before. The band was also very crowded with plenty of stations to work. Japan started appearing in Europe, but the path never opened to my qth. A few hours later, HI3TEJ appeared, but just too weak to work on SSB. We tried CW, but we lost conditions. I have been hunting HI for several years, but always seem to miss this one. KP4EIT was worked easily though. UW3E in KN78 finally appeared again, this time on SSB. I got him after a few minutes. I heard ZB2EO today again, but didn’t bother to call. Some things are really strange. From never having worked ZB until last year, I worked it again this year, and heard it in another opening.

With mostly EU on the band and nothing new, I took a break. Then around 18z, things started happening again. I suddenly started hearing Ted HI3TEJ, and finally got him in the log on SSB. That was #116 on 6M. Just a few minutes later, WP2B was calling on .110 and he was easily worked for #117 on 6M. I also worked Pedro NP4A for fun, since he had such a nice signal. Pedro is running a 13 element yagi on a 20M boom. No wonder he was strong here. WP3UX appeared on SSB, so I gave Willem a call. Conditions were a bit up and down, but seemed to be holding up. I started hearing 8R1DB again with a solid signal, and he were in for hours this time as well. Stations further north seemed to get in on the fun. LA7DFA in JP33 worked both 8R1DB and NP4A. I also noticed OH and SM working into the Caribbean too. HI3TEJ were still holding up over and hour later, and this time he was on CW, so I gave him a call. Yet another strange thing regarding HI. As I mentioned, I’ve been on the lookout for HI for several years, when I finally get it in the log, the opening lasts for hours.

This surely must be one of the best weekends on 6M ever. Having the band crowded with europeans and also having the opportunity to work some DX is great fun. LA7HJA said that this weekend was like getting his licence all over again. Obviously our new yagies does pay off. I feel it’s like night and day compared to the old one. The signals are stronger and I’m working stuff I’ve never worked before. I think conditions might be better this year, but then again, I might owe it to the 7 element up in the air. With 6 new ones so far, it brings my 6M total to #117 and #547 grids.

Soundclips:

• HI3TEJ 6M SSB – Ted in FK49
• HI3TEJ 6M CW – Ted in FK49
• WP2B 6M SSB – Brad in FK77
• ZB2EO 6M CW – John in IM76
• WP3UX 6M SSB – Willem in FK68

The last few days has been kinda hectic on 6M, at least with openings inside Europe. On Wednesday June 17th, the band was open when I got home in the evening. I noticed big parts of Europe working North America most of the day. I checked the band west, but no signals. When I turned to southeast, I had plenty of signals. SV2DCD was calling CQ DX from KN00. That would have been a new grid but I respected his CQ DX call. I then decided to call CQ, but nothing new answered me. After listening around the band, I found a few new grids. IZ8FWN JM88, IW7DKS JN90, IT9ABN JM77 and IS0GQX JM49. The skip distance to those parts are very difficult. They are usually between 1 and 2 hops of ES. I have no clue what made them appear now, but they are in the log. IS0GQX was the second IS0 station worked here, with only IS0SWW in the log several times before.

On Thursday I got alerted by LA8HGA. He was hearing 8R1DB. When I came home 20 minutes later, I could not hear 8R. LA7HJA also told me he heard the station, but only in bursts. I heard some EU signals, but didn’t bother calling anything. In the evening, TN5SN was on JT6M. I had a check, and I heard him with a signal that would have been easily worked. Unfortunately he went to SSB and I could only hear some audible but not readable signals after that.

On Saturday, the band opened early. Many EU stations on band, but nothing new. I was out during the day and when I got home, some signals were present, but again nothing interesting. I parked the radio on 50103, hoping 8R1DB would show up since he was spotted down in EU. Then while eating, I suddenly heard signals. I ran and checked, and there he was. After a few minutes in the pile-up I got him. That was #114 on 6M, and LA7HJA got him a few minutes later. I tuned the band for more dx and I heard 9Y4VU with a great signal. He was easily worked, not new, but a nice dx anyhow. I went back to eating, when LA7HJA called me and told me he heard FJ5DX. I checked the band, but I couldn’t hear him. One station I did hear, was WP2B, but could not get through. He just faded away. While tuning up and down, I suddenly heard PJ7/K2GLS. He was weak, but he came back to my call. That was #115 on 6M and maybe an LA-PJ7 first on 6M. NP4A was heard, but I have worked him before, so I didn’t bother to call. Several stations from CT3, EA8, CT and EA was heard too, but I were only on the lookout for new grids. The new grids I managed to work were EA5CLH JM08, F9IE IN86 and EA2BC/P IN82. The band was open at least til 23z when I went to bed wondering what the rest of the season will bring.

Soundclips:

• 8R1DB 6M CW – GJ06 – expedition, #114 6M
• 9Y4VU 6M CW – FK90
• IS0GQX 6M CW – Bruno, JM49

Since WordPress 2.8 was released a few days ago, I quickly updated it here. No problems with the upgrade this time either, and several pluginauthors had updated their plugins too. One thing I don’t like about the new version, is how the adminsection under plugins looks like. I prefer very much the old way of showing the plugins. One thing I like however, is the syntaxhighlighting and the linenumbers in the editor. If you haven’t updated, then go do it now 🙂

Other stuff updated: (or things done when 6M is dead)

• 6M summary updated to reflect the new countries and new squares worked in this season so far.
• My last log entries was uploaded to LoTW.
• My online logsearch is also updated.