It seems this autumn could be the pending 50mhz + MUF openings and could make 6m for Sota chasing very interesting and so glad got me 6m HB wire quad up and running and the 12m tele tilt mast working as well.
Bring it on MUF 50mhz + please
Am ready for ya as well the up grade of licensee from 50w to 100w from Feb as now can run 90w up there
Hi Karl,
well, we hit 29 MHz MUF here in Central Europe today for the first time in many weeks, which indicates we are slowly moving into Autiumn and the āsummer doldrumsā are coming to an end, so we should start to see higher F3 3000km MUF frequencies, possibly up to 50MHz I now have a portable radio that covers 6m and a portable Moxon antenna, so I hope to get out and do some 6 metre activations before long.
Lots of DX about today, mainly contest stations, a few local ragchewers ignoring the activity, lots of funny noises (digital?) - and a few CBers on AM, too!
In the US, the muf has been just barely high enough for sky wave 10m. The last three summits Iāve done have been no issue for 10m, so itās about time for me to start packing the dedicated 10m antenna.
28MHz could be the primary focus for the next Trans-Atlantic S2S event on Saturday 2nd November. A fair bit of traffic occurred on the band during the event in November last year. I wonder whether we will manage to get an S2S over the pond on 50MHz this time around.
Maybe itās time for me to dust off the delta loop.
20 minutes ago I worked into EA8 by what appears to be F2, during the last week I have experienced several DX openings in the late morning, it seems that at times 10m ignores the MUF!
Its likely that September will be good on 10m, I suggest that you donāt give up on it just yet!
PS the band is currently open, in the last few minutes I have heard TR3, UK8 and RA0 amongst others but unfortunately EU SOTA stations are too close! Cāest la vieā¦
That would be niceā¦I do have six with me on every activation (just the FT818 and a dipole) but the activity so far has been limited to a few local ops. If it opens, and someone gets on ssb/cw, I may make a few contacts. I do have a 50W amp and a number of small yagis I could take out if conditions start looking better.
I have worked 97 DXCC countries so far on 10M for the event, but Zip on 6M.
Having said that, I believe that this solar cycle has under-performed on 6M so far. In past cycles I worked F2 on 6M over at least 3 wintersā¦zip this cycle. Not sure why this cycle is different other than the FT8 issueā¦it seems to me this cycle is more Flare-oriented and that might be causing problems for 50 MHz propagation.
In the past cycles we needed big solar flux numbers that slowly decreased (no flares allowed) for six to open up.
Only time will tellā¦November should give us a clueā¦
Hi Brian,
The MUF figure that we usually monitor is the F2 layer 3000 km Maximum Usable Frequency. As you know, if Sporadic E is around, contacts of 10m, 6m and even on rare occasions up to 4 & 2m can be possible via the E-Layer even when not possible by the F-Layer (or in combination with the F-layer). Even using F-Layer propagation, the figures we look at are for a 3000 km skip if the skip is shorter or longer (possibly by having a very low angle of radiation), that MUF is different.
I always say, itās best to simply go on and listen as you do, or at least watch the DX clusters rather than just going by the F2 propagation measurements and predictions.
73 Ed.
Fully agree with Ed on this one, get on the bands and look round and donāt put too much store in predictions, altyhough I find that a low K index is usually a recipe for working the long haul DX. I would add PSK reporter to the DX Cluster as a tool to see who is hearing or seeing which areas of the world from their respective location.
It was very easy to work CY9C last night on 10m CW from 20:00-20:30z in UK on a direct beam heading - when the nay sayers on various DX Forums were saying there would not be any propagation, other than reflections by beaming in the direction of PY for the duration of the DXpedition. Albeit, that technique has worked sometimes in the afternoons lately on 10m for working EU SOTA stations.
6m is a great band. I applied for and got one of the early permits the RA (as it was then) issued. It was the winter 1984, no sporadic e around then. I built a 10m>6m transverter from a kit supplied by Spectrum Comms in Dorset. I later added their 25 watts amplifier kit. There were very few commercial 6m transceivers available then or 6m Yagi antennas, so I built my own 3 element Yagi.
Where I lived in Lancashire was a lousy site for VHF, but I came in from a night shift on New Years Eve 1984 and worked GM4FZH who lived north of Dumfries. It was exciting to make that contact.
Since then I have been on 6m regularly - but unlike some, I havenāt got the patience to sit waiting and watching for signals to appear. I still havenāt worked VK, although I have worked lots of JA stations and plenty of Asian and African countries. Current DXCC score is 167 worked and 166 confirmed.
The magic band is no way a tragic band - its great fun albeit it is frustrating at times. FT8 has opened up new horizons for DX Chasers on 6m with modest stations. If you are interested enough in Six you ought to join the UK Six Metre Group, Ā£15 a year to fund contributions which help pay for DXPeditions, beacons, equipment and antenna donations to operators in the rarer countries so they can get on 6m.