Fiji on 6M

 

The 2024 season for me started in March with a fairly regular amount of South American openings, mostly late afternoons. March 15th was the first in the log with LU8EX, but also heard a few others including CX4DA. 

This pattern has persisted through most of April, with many days having openings down to South America. Looking through my notes, this is a lot more activity here than last year. Here is a sample of what late April looked like:

April 28:

Worked PY2CC, PY2SRB (new grid)

Worked 4 different CEs including CE2SV

April 29:

Heard 2-3 CE stations

worked LU5FF

worked YV5NEA

worked HI8DAR

also heard CO8LY, 9Y4D, P43A

April 30:

Worked 10 different Brazilian stations a number of new grids

Worked CX7BBR

May 1:

Worked a couple of LUs and CE

Things started to taper off, but I noticed some locals working stations in the mid-west, so turned the beam to 270 degress.......and then.....

For a brief moment I thought this was a bad decode, but then I immediately recognized Tony's callsign. I immediately hit TX and he responded right away with a +11. I completely the QSO super fast, as I always use skip TX1, and I just sat there, nearly shaking in my shoes. FIJI on 6m!!!

Tony was in and out for about 20-30 minutes before the path shifted west. It was quite an exciting afternoon. 

Falkand Islands Heard on 6M

 

I had heard that VP8 was coming in on 6m earlier in the week, but I missed the excitement. This Sunday afternoon I did manage to catch them, but it didn't seem like many folks were actually completing with them:

More good signs....

New Caledonia on 6m Heard

 Sunday afternoon WW1L posted that he was hearing FK8CP, so I swung the antenna around to listen direct. I actually managed to get a single decode!

That's roughly 14,265km or 8,800 miles on 6m! I would have to assume this is F2 or a mix of F2 and some other propagation. 

This is going to be a good year for 6m I tihnk....

2022 6M season wrap-up

For me, this season got off to a big start in April with a number of days of TEP into South America, getting me a few new DXCC. The normal Es season, however, seemed to be a bit different than the previous two years. I witnessed a much later start, not seeing my first big domestic opening until the end of May (28th.). There were a number of smaller, fast, openings, but nothing sustained. The first EU opening for me didn't happen until June 1st, and that was just into England a Northern France. Unfortunately for me, the big EU openings all happened while I was away at a conference in Montreal, then again in July when I was busy getting Covid-19 in Nova Scotia. My last regular season contact was on 7/25.

In October we started to hear some TEP again. Early November (as I write this) I had a busted QSO with CE8EIO (he responded back to me, but JTDX refused to xmit) and then a QSO with PY8WW. Meanwhile, WW1L is working into South Africa and other exotic locations :)

Other notes, I had a (7) QSO JA run that got me a few new grids on June 12th.  

VUCC

88 new confirmed grid squares, putting my total at 682.

32 of those squares were new FFMA squares, which puts my total at 326

DXCC

I worked at least 7 new ones, finally getting over the 100 mark with 4X4DK! I was hoping to have Eric, FP/KV1J since he's local and part the local VHF community, but 4X4DK was in and I grabbed him while I could. I've had a few busted contacts with 4X4 stations, so I didn't want to leave anything to chance. 

Here is the (mostly) final list:

#95 CE3SX - Chile

#96 EA9ABC - Ceuta & Melilla

#97 C31CT  - Andorra

#98 UB7K - European Russia

#99 5B4AGN - Cyprus

#100 4X4DK - Israel

#101 FP/KV1J - St. Pierre & Miquelon

93 confirmed in LoTW. Now I either need to find a local card checker, or figure out the process to send my remaining cards to the ARRL for LoTW credits. 

Misses

Even with working seven new DXCC entities this year, there were some very notable misses. 

ZP5 - in South America

KH6 - a couple of times 6-12 (This gives me hope that WAS is achievable at some point)

D44 - Cape Verde (have heard them two years in a row now, yet to work them)

ER5 - Moldova 6-12

D2UY - Angola 6-28

OD5 - Lebanon 7-8

UN7 - Kazakhstan 7-9 (Had a busted QSO with him, will look for again next year)

Final thoughts

My first two years of truly dedicated 6m operation were 2020 and 2021, prime covid years. I wasn't travelling for work and summer vacationing was minimal.  2022 was somewhat of a "back to normal" year with me travelling to my usual June conference then again going to Nova Scotia in mid-July for our normal week in Pubnico. 

That's two weeks of Prime 6m operating dead smack in the middle of the season. I may need to rethink this a bit :)

Omni-Rig and DXlabs commander - Elecraft K3 and Digi-U mode

 

In my particular setup I've been using SDR-Console with an Airspy R2 for receiving on 6m. This allows me to have several "slices" of the band receiving simultaneously, which in turn allows me to watch a few FT8 frequencies plus voice, if I'm interested. 

In order to accomplish this, SDR-Console uses an external radio control program called Omni-Rig. Omni-Rig is effectively a software API to a hardware radio. It allows multiple software packages to gain access to the radio at the same time. In my instance, I have 2-3 copies of JTDX and SDR-Console all polling my Elecraft K3, and also keying the radio when each one is in transmit. 

I then select a receiver in SDR-Console, which then tunes the K3 VFO to whichever frequency I want to transmit on, all while having each independent receiver sending audio to each JTDX instance.

This issue is that Omni-Rig doesn't always behave well.

I've been using DXLabs DXkeeper for the last couple of years and have had good success with it. I operate 99% data modes, but on occasion I do like to make some SSB contacts. Having to log the frequency by hand was a bit of a pain so I started down the road of trying to integrate the Commander application for rig control. The main issue is that SDR-console, which is a critical part of the operation, only supports Omni-Rig as an external control program. So, we start building a house of cards to make all of this work. 

I came across this article on the DXlabs documentation site that partially explains how to do it:

https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/SDRConsoleCWSkimmerConfiguration

SDR-Console-->Omni-Rig-->(com1 virtual null modem com2)--->(com2)Commander(com3)--->K3

It ALMOST worked!

The issue that I was running into was when I selected the data mode on SDR-console, by the time the commands made it down to the K3, it ended up in Data mode, AFSK, which wasn't helpful. It needed to be in Data Mode A. After lots of debugging serial CAT commands, I took to the DXLabs groups.io page and started asking for help. 

In the end it was basically determined (By Joe, W4TV) that Omni-Rig was only passing the mode change, and not specifying the sub-mode. Commander was using a default of RTTY, AFSK, which didn't work. 

The end result was that I had to modify the Omni-Rig k3.ini file to set the additional sub-mode command when we issued the mode change from SDR-Console. 

Here is the change that needs to be made:

[pmDIG_U]

Command=(MD6;DT0;)

ReplyLength=0

As of right now, everything seems to be working. I can change modes without issue.

The only side note is that JTDX (or WSJT-X, if it applies) needs to set the radio mode to none, otherwise if you have SDR-Console in USB, JTDX will want to keep it in Data or USB mode, ymmv. 

I'm also using VOX keying in JTDX as it seems to switch out of TX slightly faster than when I was using CAT for PTT. 

Mid-season 6m update: DXCC and band conditions

 

DXCC on 6m has been attained!

Now to collect cards and LoTW entries...

On July 6 I worked:

UB7K for #98

5B4AGN for #99 ...and finally

4X4DK for Country #100

I was trying to work it out that Eric, FP/KV1J was in the #100 spot, but the propagation to Israel was there, so I wasn't going to waste the opportunity. 

Other random notes:

- The band has been open to Europe all week, some days more than others, but the lack of propagation in June seems to be made up for in July to this point. 

- Almost completed with UN7LZ in Khazakstan, but didn't quite make it:

- Confirmed LoTW grid count is now up to 668

Mid-season summary: Weird start....

 Comparing this Es season to the previous two seasons, this one has been weird for me. Here's the rough highlights:

- One big EU opening (I was traveling and missed it)

- Only a few big domestic openings

- One decent JA opening on the 12th of June (worked 7 JA and some new grids)

- Lots of TEP this season (Worked a number of new grids plus new DXCC)

Misses so far:

- ZP5 during one of the TEP openings

- KH6 - for state number 49, had half a QSO, but didn't complete

- D44 in Cape Verde

- D2UY in Angola

Somehow I still have managed to work 50+ new grids so far:

Angola on 6m

 

Angola showed up briefly on 6m today:

I turned the amp up to 500W, but they faded after 4 decodes. A few other stations heard him as well, but of the operators that I chatted with, nobody made a contact.

Hawaii on 6M

 

Almost! I heard him for a number of sequences, got a signal report back but couldn't complete.  

First EU of the 2022 Season

 The first opening to EU in 2021 was on May 19th, this season got off to a very late start. The first EU that I hear here was on June 1st, and I was not in front of the radio!

It was a relatively small opening, looking forward to the rest of the season.

More 6M TEP - Quick opening to Brazil

 I snagged a quick QSO with PY1MHZ today on 6M ft8 via TEP propagation. 

 

The bigger stations near me were giving reports of ZP, LU and other PYs being loud. 

6M TEP, the start of a new Sporadic E season

 Timing is everything in life....

I noticed some bigger stations calling CQ SA, so I spun the beam around and just got a few decodes from LW2EDM, so I gave him a call when he finished with the other station. He came right back and boom, was in the log! PSK reporter showed there were a few other LUs that heard me, but I didn't see any decodes from them:

Can't wait for the new Es to begin!

Winter Sporadic E - shack rebuilding

 Last August I had some system integration issues with my station that kept me off the air for a number of months. May last log entry was from August 5th, with N2RJ on 6m FT8. I had a really tremendous 6m season in 2021, but my shack was in an epic wiring nightmare. Halfway through the season I integrated my Larcan 1KW and and also moved to using an Airspy R2 for my main RX. 

The result of both integrations was rats nest of splitters, pre-amps, relays, control boards, and DC wiring. Work and life got busy, I pushed it aside and started dreaming of the 2022 Es season. 

This past week I decided that I really missed having a working station, so I every so slow started to pull all the cables apart. At the same time I started integrating a new station computer, a mini system that has a ton of CPU and memory, but the size of a mac-mini. 

A clean slate. I got the 6M station wired up to the power supply and antenna and audio interface. Simple, nothing fancy. I could heard signals again!

I was somewhat surprised at the level of local 6m FT8 activity, it seemed like much more than last winter. This is a good thing. 

This Saturday evening, around 9pm local, I started to hear some mid-west stations calling and I managed to get a few in the log:

K9WKJ   EN44 
WO0Z   EN34 
K0DAS   EN42 
K9DLI   EN42
AA9JS   EN51
KX9X   EN50
WA8TTM   EM79
N0LWF   EN10
WB8EJN   EM48
K4XXX   EM77
KC9VVX   EN60
W4RXR   EM65
N9FN   EN60
KG5JJ   EM26
XE2X   EL06
WT9J   EM59
K0GU   DN70
NG1H   EL06
KC0MAS   EM28
WB8ZBT   EM55

N3CY   EM74

K0PHP   EM38

K4NO   EM64

N5BO   EM60

Not bad for January!

FN45 completed - 6m and 2m

 

This past saturday I managed to check off FN45 for both 6m and 2m. Peter, KA6U, is on an epic road trip from Floida to Maine, and back, all for the purpose of getting as many states as possible on 222 EME for Worked All States. My 222 system is offline, but luckily for me, he also brought 6m and 2m with him for the non EME times. 

"I plan to be QRV from FN45 Quill Hill in Maine tomorrow morning, Saturday from about 1130UTC until about 2130UTC.  I will be on a 2100 foot hill in a flat open plain in Maine.  I will be running a KW, 3 el 6M M2 Yagi at 30 feet with EME quality preamp.  I may also run my 2M station 7 el M2.  In particular I will look for long haul opportunities to the west and southwest.  I will monitor PJ and Slack assuming I have Internet access which is likely (have not been there before).  There is a possibility I could return to the site again early in the week if there is interest."

2021 CQ VHF WW Wrap Up

 I got back from Vacation on Friday in time for the 2021 CQ VHF WW contest, which ran Saturday and Sunday. I had a few things to do on Saturday so I didn't really put in a big effort, we had some sick family members that needed attention and my contest logging situation needed to be worked on. I ended up putting in a pretty full effort on Sunday 'till the end of the contest at 5pm local. Here are the results:

 Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts  Grd  Pt/Q

    50  FT8     63      63   36   1.0

    50  USB     25      25   18   1.0

   144  FT8     24      48   13   2.0

   144  USB      2       4    0   2.0

 Total  Both   114     140   67   1.2

Score: 9,380

1 Mult = 1.7 Q's

6M was open most of Saturday, at least for single-hop. Because I spent a bunch of time getting my logging situation worked out, I didn't end up working as many grids as I could have. I did, however, spend a bunch of time calling CQ on SSB. You can get better rates that sticking with FT8. 

The best contact for the whole weekend was a very brief 2M Sporadic E opening to Minnesota! I worked W0VTT in EN33. I was on vacation the previous week, which was apparently one of the best 2m Es opening since the 1980's here in New England. Timing is everything in life, I guess. 

The APRS map was the first indicator 2m was open

The MUF map showed a high spot over IN/OH

Finally, the stations that I heard/heard me in MN

Epic Day on 6m: 7/8/2021

 The day started with a pretty solid opening into Europe, with a very specific reflection off of an E cloud that gave me a bit of a spotlight into G/PA/DL:

There was activity most of the day, but the early buzz was about HV0A, Vatican City. I only ended up getting a single decode, so there is hope that it could happen eventually:

my sole decode from HV0A

lots of folks calling the pope

There was spotty activity for most of the day, but in the late after noon Europe really opened up, and this time it opened in a way that I hadn't seen in a while. At one point both 50.313 and 50.323 had full pages of decodes, 30-40 per page. There weren't any new DXCC entities but I managed to pull in 20-30 new grid squares. There was a more northern skew to the propagation this time, I was working many OH/SM/LA stations, more than ever before, which should have given me the clue for the main event to come!

The big guns on the ON4KST chat page started talking about JAs. When this happens I foolishly point my antenna to 335 degrees and pray. A few days ago I actually heard a station in Japan, but even with my 400W amp on, nobody was hearing me. I have a fairly modest station, so I didn't expect it to ever happen....until it did! As I was working OH/LA stations I zoomed out on the PSK-Reporter map and noticed that there were stations in Japan receiving me, even though I was pointed at Finland!

four stations in JA were decoding me while I was pointed at OH/SM/LA

 I immediately swung the beam around, added a little more power and started calling. It didn't take long before JP1LRT to reply back to me. Without actually breathing, I waited for each 15 second sequence to finish until I saw an RR73 from him! I could have been happy with that, but then I started getting called by more JA stations. 

In the end I worked 7 total: JP1LRT, JL1RUC, JG1TSG, JE1BMJ, JA2CXH, JR1LZK, and finally JK1BPA. Then, as soon as they came in, they faded back out. I would have been happy just to work one, but I ended up with seven

The band stayed open to Europe for quite a while after that. My final contact was with Bert, S57RR, in Slovenia. It was 3am in his time zone, but he was still working guys stateside. 

What a magic band!

Update: July 5

 Since my last post on June 19th there was a terrible drought on 6m right during the peak of the season here in FN42. This, unfortunately, happened the same time as the N4EME team was operating from their second grid in the big expedition. Some highlights:

- Working two new grids on 2m and 6 with N4EME (FN57, FN66)

- Working Market Reef on 6/18 on 6m

- Decent EU openings on 6/19 and 6/21

- Working Mauritius on 6M finally! (5T5PA on June 27)

- Working OX3LX (Bo, in Greenland) on 6m SSB

The drought to EU finally broke big on July 1st and I worked quite a number of new stations and new grids. Then on the night of the 1st and into July 2nd we had consistent openings into the PNW and I worked quite a few new grids, which pushed my VUCC totals over 500. We had another small opening to EU on July 3rd. 

Some misses:

I had one decode from OH0Z and OH0100AX operating from Aland Island. That certainly would have been a new DXCC entity for me, but they faded before I could work them. I only got a single decode:

JAPAN!

I actually decoded Japan on 6m, which blows my mind a bit.

    

I had no chance of working the, since most of the continental US was hearing them. Here is just one sample of who was trying to work them at the same time:

I also had my second decode from Kuwait from earlier in the day on the 2nd:

I need to get more aluminum in the air, higher in the air!

Market Reef on 6m!

 I had to spend most of the day away from the radio working on other projects (always a risk during 6m season). I got back in the late afternoon and sat down to see what I missed, which wasn't much thankfully. I managed to time it just right to see an opening into the Baltics, which doesn't happen frequently for me. I managed to work 2 stations in Estonia (ES6RQ, ES5PC) and one Latvian station (YL2CP). I wasn't able to work a few Finnish stations, but we'll get them next time. 

The big news, however, was that as I was working the Estonian stations, the rare DX entity, Market Reef came up and I was able to very quickly work them.

(my color scheme was quickly adjusted after I made this contact, this was a +05 signal report)

Looking at LOTW, it seems there are records from this callsign in 2019, so there is hope they will confirm via LoTW!

The new Q65 protocol is some sort of black magic!

 The N4EME grid expedition to FN57/FN66 is in full swing, this week finishing up their FN57 stint. I worked them on 6m MS shortly after they arrived at that location. Later they got 2m working and we tried doing some MSK meteor scatter, but that didn't end up working. 

I got on the chat page again this morning and tried with them, no luck. K1OR, who was at the keyboard, suggested we try the new Q65 protocol provided by Joe Taylor in WSJT-X. After fumbling around with the radio and setting I finally got it together and successfully worked N4EME! 

There are several things worth notiing, first of which is they are roughly 380 miles to the north. That's a pretty tough path on a good day. Second, I have a fairly modest station, 200W into 12 elements at only about 25-30 ft. 

After a few sequences I noticed I decoded them, but I hadn't entered their info into WSJT-X, so it was not using A Priori decoding. It took me by surprise because I didn't see anything at all on the waterfall display!

But, if you look very closely, you can see a slight disturbance in the noise around 1500hz. If I zoom in you can see it, barely:

Apparently that is enough signal for WSJT-X to decode!

From what I understand (I have a lot more reading to do) the q3 indicates that it's using message re-construction from previous (in the sequence) decodes. 

Thanks to John and Paul for getting me a new, very rare, grid on 2m. With any luck we'll do the same next week when they are in FN66. 

-Steve

6m DX the week of June 7 2021

 6m here in FN42la was somewhat dead for 6 days in a row, which is somewhat unusual for the month of June. The previous big opening here was on June 4, which I talked about in my blog post "Another big US-EU opening 2021 June 4." 

Finally, on June 11th, we started to see some signs of life, including some DX excitement. I was decoding TZ4AM in Mali, but he wasn't hearing me. Still, very exciting:

Next up, as I previously mentioned was S01WS in Western Sahara. I managed to get a single sequence back from him, but never got 73's, so I logged it but didn't expect it to be valid. 

Luckily, I was able to work him again on Sunday June 13th. The propagation path was very specific, it was hitting the Azores and the Canaries, with a little bit of southern Spain, then mainland Africa. 

Meanwhile, in the other direction it was wide open, including some double-hop to the west. 

-Steve