Trinidad on 6m!

I just worked 9Y4VU on 6 meters! I have been watching VHFDX.net for a while today and saw him spotted. So I listened and I could BARELY detect a signal in there. So I figured I would sit on the frequency (50.099 CW) and see what happens.

The map showed him working out West pretty well with very few contacts over towards the middle of the country. As time went on, the E-clouds moved over our way a bit more.

After 15 minutes of listening he was up over the noise well enough that I could copy him. So I called back and he caught a few letters of my call. So I repeated my call twice. He got it! I gave him a 339. FK90 <-> EN80

Just a couple minutes later, no more than two, the band dropped and he was gone!

6 Meter Band Openings, also Grid Count

6 Meters has been opening pretty good recently. I have worked down in to the Caribbean a bit and all over the US - mostly to the East and South of me (in Ohio). However, I have been watching some spotting sites online - such as VHFDX.net and DXsummit.com - and see that propagation is pretty wild. Right now there are people working across in to Europe and down in to South America.

I have been listening for some of this DX but I am not hearing anything. I scroll around to whatever frequencies are spotted, like right now I am listening for 9Y4VU as there are a LOT of people working him, but I am not hearing a darn thing. I wish I could get some of the action!

I got my grids all counted up. As of right now, the preliminary stats are 140 grids! This past trip really added to the mix for some reason, though I worked more variety in past years. Keep in mind, these were all grids worked while I have been in Canada (EN39) - that is about a week out of the year. If I had time to sit for weeks on end and monitor the bands I am sure I could snag a LOT more than that. I have not counted my grids worked at the home QTH.

On My Way to VUCC - 102 Q's and Counting!

I figured, just for the heck of it, I would tally up the grids I have worked while in EN39 over the years. I started working 6m from there in 2004, though I didn't get any contacts in 2005 and 2006 (I see mobile QSO's on the way there/back, but none while I was there both years).

Also, I take a grid square map with me (one of the ones from the Icom booth at Hamvention) so I can keep track of the grids I work while I am there - it shows where propagation has been hot to and I can track openings. It doesn't work as well as VHFDX.net does, but hey! Its still fun and works with no Internet.

I have gone all the way up to page 1 of my last trip. That includes 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 (including the ARRL June VHF Contest, a separate log, 2008). I got to the bottom of page 1 of this year and realized it is now just about 4:00am and I am TIRED! I counted the unique grids real fast (I was keeping track the whole time, but I crossed out old QSO's and replaced them with more current ones as I went so I had to re-count slightly)...

102 grids worked so far!

I still have another 7 pages of QSO's to sift through. This is going to take a while. Where is a computerized log when you need it?

I still have one more challenge, beyond the counting and checking, to complete - confirming them. Lets hope all the people I need to confirm these contacts are able to do so (good log records, still alive, etc). I have a few back ups, in some cases about 20, but that isn't going to fly for all 100+ grids!!!

solarcycle24.com, from Kevin VE3EN

solarcycle24 is a pretty cool site! I found out about it after I worked Kevin, VE3EN, on 6 meters the other night. I told him I was up in Ontario a couple weeks ago operating from EN39. He checked his log and we worked on June 23. That was pretty cool!

Anyway, I looked him up on QRZ and found the link to his site. It is mostly about space weather and the status of the sun. The site is a bit busy, I will admit, but it is a very informative site. Check the pull-down site content menus for easy navigation.

For those that are unfamiliar, the sun goes in, typically, 11 year cycles of high activity. The energy from the sun is what ionizes our atmosphere. This is how shortwave radio signals travel so far - the signals bounce off the ionization in the upper levels (F region) of the atmosphere (also lower level, E layer, affects higher frequencies like 6m).

We have been in a "solar minimum" for the past few years, so radio propagation hasn't been great. It will be interesting to keep a watch on conditions as time progresses. We are surely going to climb back out of the rut! Keep up with the latest with Kevin, VE3EN.