Middle East on 6m

 

I was up early Saturday morning and was chatting on the ON4KST region 2 chat page. There wasn't much activity for me, but I did see WW1L and K1TOL talking about middle east stations. I couldn't stick around, I had a T-ball game for my 5 year old at 8:30am. 

When I got back from the game around 9:30, I was gobsmacked to find that I had decoded 9K2 on 50.323!

What makes this really special is that I have a very modest station. I have a M2 6M5XX up around 25 feet, no tower, no dual stack!

single story house with the 6M5XX strapped to the chimney

This particular propagation path was really unique since there was ZERO other stations decoded. I would have expected at least some EU stations to be hear, but nothing. The really interesting thing was that XE2X was also decoding the middle-east stations, and I was hearing him call them back!

Soon after I looked up and realized that I was copying OD5KU in Lebanon! WoW! Now, here's where it gets painful. I cranked the amp up to 800W and started calling him back. I must have called at least 10-15 sequences. I looked back at the chat page and VE1SKY told me I was calling him back on 313 not 323 (where he was!). AAAARRGHH!!! By the time I switched the TX over to 323 it was too late. 

Shortly after I copied 4X4DK in Israel calling another OD5. This time I was prepared, but even with the 800w he wasn't hearing me. There's a good chance the OD5 wouldn't hear me as well, but It would have been nice to try!

Hopefully there will be many more days like today!