Another big US-EU opening 2021 June 4

 

Another incredible opening happened on Friday, June 4th. It started early in the AM and lasted 'till just about 8pm local. It slowed down during the day, but picked up full-force around 4pm local. I was able to work a number of new grids, and new DXCC entities. Here is the breakdown:

119Q's in total

By DXCC entity:

9A (1)

9H (1)

DE (14)

EA (5)

EA6 (1)

EI (7)

F (17)

G (9)

GD0  (1)

GI (2)

GW (3)

HB (3)

I (21)

IS (1)

LA (4)  ** New DXCC

LX (1)

OK (1)

ON (3)

OZ (5)

PA (3)

SM (4)

SP (2)

SV (1)  ** New DXCC

TA (1)  ** New DXCC

TK (1)  ** New DXCC

UR (1)

VE (1)

YT (1)

Z3 (1)  ** New DXCC

I haven't figure out how many new grids that was, but at one point I was only working new ones. 

It was a very different opening that I've experienced before. The propagation seemed to be very sharp at times. Where normally I only hear OZ occasionally, this time it was it was many at time! LA was a new one, but I heard 5-10 total, mostly at the same time. It would be all Italians, then all French, etc. 

At times both 313 and 323 were full of stations, and now that I'm using my new SDR setup it's easy for me to switch back and forth. Here is what JTDX looked like:

The next morning I was able to go back and look at PSK Reporter and you can tell where the strongest path was:

(not sure why PSK-R wasn't showing the 21 Italian stations that I worked)

It was really impressive to see full pages of decodes with all of these stations, at one point the docodes were scrolling off of the screen:

The end result was pretty impressive, I hope we get to see many more opening like this one:

Coastal 2m Opening

 I woke up early to an email from Bill, AA2UK, that the band was open. I checked the APRS map:

So I jumped on and mad a bunch of contacts on FT8! I checked SSB, but didn't hear anyone on.

KO4YC, FM17

AA2UK, FM29

KA2BPP, FN30

WB4IUY, FM05

N3ASF, FM27

Things settled down a bit, then out of the blue Bill, VA1WV called me from the back of my beam:

VA1WV, FN75

(at that point I wrote an email to Roger, VE1SKY telling him the bands were open)

KN4SM, FM16

NG4C, FM16

AB4SF, FM17

and then VE1SKY, FN74

N1CLG, FN41

KB1GMX, FN42

W1FKF, FN43

K1RZ, FM19

The final grid map for today on 2m:

Not a bad start for the season!

-Steve

Addendum: It looks like Hepburn got this one right. Here was the prediction map

Big 6m Es opening to Europe

Late this afternoon we had a massive opening to Europe. I worked 79 stations in total, here is the breakdown:

CA (1)

DL (20)

EI (2)

F (1)

G (16)

GD (1)

GI (3)

GM (4)

GU (1)

HA (3)

HB (1)

LX (1)  new DXCC

OE (1)

OK (2)  

OM (1)  new DXCC

ON (5)

OZ (1)  new DXCC

PA (7)

SP (5)

TF (1)   new DXCC

UR (1)

W (1)

Of 79 contacts, 33 were new grids!

This is, by far, the strongest opening I've experienced to EU. At one point I the decodes for a single sequence couldn't be contained on my WSJT-X screen. I made a screen share with audio and posted it on YouTube here.

Here is a view from PSKreporter on what the afternoon looked like.

N1JFU 6m Grids - USA

 Here is a map of my current progress on 6m gridsquares. 

You can see that my 5 Element beam does very well on single hop Es, but not as well on the longer double-hop paths. Hopefully the 2021 season will allow me to fill some of these gaps. 

DXCC on 17m Digital!

 As a follow-up to my previous post, 100 DXCC entities in 33 days, I finally confirmed my 100th country on 17m!

I have 119 entities worked since 1/1/2021, that's a decent QSL rate. 

Ok, what band is next?

6M is back! South America TEP

I logged onto the ON4KST chat page today and saw the New England guys talking about South America, I turned the rig on and started to decode some big DX!

Next, VP8 (Falkland Islands) start showing up. I wasn't able to decode them directly, but many of the locals were calling. I'm not sure if anyone completed, but lots of them we hearing him. 

Then more LU and CX, with some PV/YV coming in for a brief moment. 

As time went on I was able to work a few LU stations. I have a small setup here, only 5el and 100W at about 20 feet. I'm still pumped to have been able to work Argentina on this setup!

Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come!

-Steve

N1JFU

100 DXCC entities in 33 days on 17m

 

my 100th DXCC entity 

As a follow-up to my last blog post, I've been having a great time working 17m FT8. I'm lucky in that I work from home, so when I'm stuck on a boring conference call, I can also be working DX! In a mere 33 days I've been able to work 100 DXCC entities! I fully take advantage of the color coding system of WSJT-X, that way I can just look for the hot pink to grab new entities, beige for the new CQ zones. 

Getting QSL cards from all 100 will be a different story, so I probably won't have a DXCC award for a number of months, but not bad! To date, I have 82 confirmed....

Some Highlights:

- Both Alaska and Hawaii - my last two states needed for 6m WAS were easy on 17m
- V5 (Namibia), 9G (Ghana) - both are tough directions for my antenna
- A9 (Bharain), A4 (Oman) - Longer paths, I don't normally hear that well, both below the noise
- VK, ZL, JA - Taking advantage of  Grayline prop. They come in for a short window most days

Misses: 

- ER - Moldova

- UN7 - Khazakstan

- ZD7 - St. Helena

- ZD8 - Ascension Island

- 6Y5 - Jamaica

                                                           DATA OF FIRST QSO
                                                ---------------------------------------
DXCC                                 QSO Conf.  CALLSIGN        DATE       TIME 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF (Iceland)                          3    2    TF5B            01/01/2021 14:16
HA, HG (Hungary)                      3    2    HA1RB           01/01/2021 14:18
YT-YU, YZ (Serbia)                    1    1    YU3A            01/01/2021 14:21
YO-YR (Romania)                       6    4    YO3JR           01/01/2021 14:27
SV-SZ (Greece)                        6    5    SV3SPD          01/01/2021 14:28
I (Italy)                             9    6    IZ8PPI          01/01/2021 14:29
9Y-9Z (Trinidad & Tobago)             1    1    9Y4DG           01/01/2021 14:56
9H (Malta)                            2    0    9H1ET           01/01/2021 14:58
HC-HD (Ecuador)                       6    5    HC1BI           01/01/2021 15:00
EA-EH (Spain)                        17   10    EC7R            01/01/2021 15:02
F (France)                           14    9    F5ADE           01/01/2021 15:08
G, GX (England)                       6    6    M0ORD           01/01/2021 15:28
TI, TE (Costa Rica)                   2    0    TI2VVV          01/01/2021 15:33
GM, GS (Scotland)                     2    0    GM6DX           01/01/2021 15:37
CT (Portugal)                         5    4    CT2JBG          01/01/2021 15:39
J7 (Dominica)                         4    2    J73ESL          01/01/2021 15:41
HJ-HK (Colombia)                      8    5    HK3X            01/01/2021 15:48
GI, GN (Northern Ireland)             4    3    2I0IOI          01/01/2021 15:57
GW, GC (Wales)                        1    0    MW0CSO          01/01/2021 16:34
ZR-ZU (South Africa)                  2    2    ZS4JAN          01/01/2021 17:37
V5 (Namibia)                          1    0    V51WH           01/01/2021 20:19
GJ, GH (Jersey)                       1    1    GJ0KYZ          02/01/2021 15:08
VP2E (Anguilla)                       1    1    VP2ETE          02/01/2021 15:10
EI-EJ (Ireland)                       5    4    EI4GNB          02/01/2021 15:17
HB (Switzerland)                      4    3    HB9ACA          02/01/2021 15:18
EA6-EH6 (Balearic Is.)                3    3    EA6SX           02/01/2021 15:21
PA-PI (Netherlands)                   5    4    PF7DKW          02/01/2021 15:38
ON-OT (Belgium)                       4    1    ON8BB           02/01/2021 15:39
V3 (Belize)                           2    2    V31MA           02/01/2021 15:45
CM, CO (Cuba)                        10    5    CO7MTL          02/01/2021 16:55
PP-PY (Brazil)                        7    5    PY2IQ           02/01/2021 17:01
K,W,N, AA-AK (United States of A)   104   81    W5SUM           02/01/2021 17:47
LO-LW (Argentina)                     3    3    LU1YT           03/01/2021 15:55
P4 (Aruba)                            1    1    P41E            04/01/2021 15:55
C6 (Bahamas)                          1    0    C6AVD           04/01/2021 16:23
CV-CX (Uruguay)                       4    3    CX2AQ           04/01/2021 20:16
VE, VO, VY (Canada)                   8    8    VY1MB           04/01/2021 20:19
CA-CE (Chile)                         3    1    CE3BT           04/01/2021 20:40
KH6 (Hawaii)                          2    2    K2GT            04/01/2021 21:52
LA-LN (Norway)                        3    2    LA1PHA          05/01/2021 14:22
EA8-EH8 (Canary Is.)                  4    3    EC8AXS          05/01/2021 15:51
SA-SM (Sweden)                        4    3    SM6MUY          05/01/2021 17:01
CU (Azores)                           3    2    CU7AA           05/01/2021 17:15
DA-DL (Fed. Rep. of Germa)           12    5    DK7ZT           05/01/2021 17:16
UA-UI1,3,4,6, (European Russia)      11    5    RZ1OA           05/01/2021 18:39
ZF (Cayman Is.)                       1    0    ZF1PB           05/01/2021 18:54
KP2 (Virgin Is.)                      3    2    KP2B            05/01/2021 20:36
OX (Greenland)                        1    1    XP3A            05/01/2021 20:40
LZ (Bulgaria)                         3    0    LZ2RR           06/01/2021 14:35
Z3 (North Macedonia)                  1    1    Z36W            06/01/2021 14:38
9A (Croatia)                          3    2    9A2GB           06/01/2021 14:40
OK-OL (Czech Republic)                6    5    OK1DOY          06/01/2021 14:42
LX (Luxembourg)                       2    0    LX1DA           06/01/2021 15:33
SN-SR (Poland)                        5    1    SP9MGJ          06/01/2021 15:34
OE (Austria)                          4    2    OE3FVU          06/01/2021 15:45
S5 (Slovenia)                         2    0    S56GD           06/01/2021 16:14
FG (Guadeloupe)                       1    1    FG5GH           06/01/2021 18:23
ZP (Paraguay)                         2    1    ZP5DNB          06/01/2021 18:40
PZ (Suriname)                         1    0    PZ5RA           07/01/2021 14:47
HO-HP (Panama)                        4    3    HP1CDW          07/01/2021 19:50

OZ (Denmark)                          5    4    OZ4VW           08/01/2021 13:52

EA9-EH9 (Ceuta & Melilla)             2    0    EA9ABC          08/01/2021 14:41

OD (Lebanon)                          2    2    OD5KU           08/01/2021 15:02

5B (Cyprus)                           1    1    5B4AAB          08/01/2021 15:14

ZB2 (Gibraltar)                       1    1    ZB2RR           08/01/2021 15:28

HI (Dominican Republic)               4    4    HI3AA           09/01/2021 17:36

KL7 (Alaska)                          1    1    KL7TC           10/01/2021 19:55

PJ4 (Bonaire)                         3    1    PJ4BZL          10/01/2021 20:06

JA-JS (Japan)                         3    2    JA2PAC          10/01/2021 22:47

OF-OI (Finland)                       6    4    OH1O            11/01/2021 14:44

UR-UZ, EM-EO (Ukraine)                5    5    UY5ZZ           11/01/2021 16:02

3B8 (Mauritius)                       2    2    3B8BAP          11/01/2021 16:21

9G (Ghana)                            1    1    9G5FI           11/01/2021 16:42

ES (Estonia)                          1    1    ES1KK           11/01/2021 17:27

VK (Australia)                        1    1    VK2DX           11/01/2021 20:23

OM (Slovak Republic)                  1    1    OM8KT           13/01/2021 14:20

E7 (Bosnia-Herzegovina)               4    4    E74K            13/01/2021 15:45

YL (Latvia)                           1    0    YL2LW           13/01/2021 15:49

IS, IM (Sardinia)                     2    2    IS0SLM          13/01/2021 18:44

TA-TC (Turkey)                        1    1    TA2LG           14/01/2021 15:11

PJ2 (Curacao)                         1    0    PJ2MAN          14/01/2021 22:31

LY (Lithuania)                        2    1    LY13LY          15/01/2021 15:50

FR (Reunion)                          1    0    FR4OO           16/01/2021 16:49

CP (Bolivia)                          2    2    CP6UA           22/01/2021 21:12

CN (Morocco)                          1    0    CN8RAH          26/01/2021 17:01

YV-YY (Venezuela)                     1    0    YV5ZV           27/01/2021 21:20

YN (Nicaragua)                        1    0    YN1ECF          27/01/2021 21:53

KP4 (Puerto Rico)                     3    2    KP4MAQ          28/01/2021 19:44

A4 (Oman)                             1    1    A45XR           29/01/2021 13:53

UA2 (Kaliningrad)                     1    1    RU2K            29/01/2021 14:49

EU, EV, EW (Belarus)                  3    1    EW6DM           29/01/2021 14:51

GD, GT (Isle of Man)                  1    1    MD0CCE          29/01/2021 16:10

XA-XI (Mexico)                        1    1    XE2BCS          29/01/2021 16:47

GU, GP (Guernsey)                     1    0    GU8FBO          29/01/2021 18:02

J6 (St. Lucia)                        1    1    J69DS           30/01/2021 16:08

ZL-ZM (New Zealand)                   1    1    ZL3JT           30/01/2021 21:39

FM (Martinique)                       1    1    FM4RU           31/01/2021 20:37

ZA (Albania)                          1    1    ZA/IW2JOP       01/02/2021 15:36

A9 (Bahrain)                          1    0    A92GE           02/02/2021 14:26

4X, 4Z (Israel)                       1    0    4X5MZ           02/02/2021 15:37

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total:  100                         420  286

2M opening to Ohio/Indiana

As I was laying in bed at 7am and noticed there was a facebook post about 2m being open the night before. I took a look at he APRS map and saw sonmething like this:

I came down to the shack, but didn't initially hear anything. Soon after was able to work N3AAA in Western PA, grid EN90, which was a new grid for me. Next up was Rich, K1HTV down in VA in FM18. Then K4LY in South Carolina, who was only running 30w!

Next, came the exciting bits. K0TPP in Missouri told me he heard me loud, but I wasn't able to work him. After looking west for a bit I eneded up working two stations in Ohio, which is a new state and two new grids:

WB8ART in EM79 

K8DIO in EN91

The band started to drop out, but then over the course of the next hour I worked a number of other stations in Ohio and Indiana:

AB9V in EN60, Indiana

W9WO in EM69, Indiana

KE8FD in EN80, Ohio

N8AM in EN81, Ohio

K8DZ in EM79, Ohio

Four hours later and the band still is alive, although it seems to have shifted a bit west removing me from the pipeline. 

I also got a bonus new grid, FN11, which isn't that far but I hadn't ever worked anyone there yet. 

All in all, 6 new grids today, which brings my total 2M grids up to 52

UPDATE: Later that evening, it's open back up again. 

CQ'ing on FT8 is showing positive results:

Additional contacts that evening:

K8ROX in EN80, Ohio

N8WAC in EN81, Ohio

K8ROK in EN80, Ohio

KB8VAO (didn't complete) in EN91, Ohio

N8LRG in EN80, Ohio

N8GLS in EN91, Ohio

KD8JQ in EN91, Ohio

N8XQM in EN80, Ohio

FINAL UPDATE:

After all the new calls dried up on 2m, I gave 432 late in the envening and managed to work Dave, K1RZ in FM19, Virginia. The funny thing about this contact is that I have a very modest antenna about 25' above ground pointing directly into a tree. When the band is open, you can work just about everything....

-Steve N1JFU

2020 ARRL September VHF Contest

 I didn't really have time to do much operating this weekend, Saturday was Soccer game and kid stuff. Later in the afternoon I got for a bit and tried to get 222 and 432 running. I somehow ended up blowing my 222 Amp. I had it outputting 300W and the next thing I know, it was down to zero watts. I probably blew the FET, new ones appear to be around $100, if i'm lucky. After further troubleshooting, the SWR on my 222 antenna is up over 5:1, which the FET didn't like. 

Sunday afternoon I managed to cobble 432 back on the air and worked a couple of mostly local stations, with the exception of WB1GQR in FN33, Vermont, but they usually are on a mountaintop. My 432 is only a 6 foot book and it's basically pointing right into trees. Anyhow, 50w and a few contacts. 

I have better 432 and 222 antennas on the ground waiting to go up, I'm waiting for the weather to get a little cooler. With luck, everything will be working for January. 

Band conditions didn't seem very good. I tried with VE1SKY in FN74, he was hearing me, but I didn't hear him at all. Better luck in January.  

Final Score: 2,312

6m:  21q 13g

2m: 27q 13g

222: 1q 1g

432: 9q 7g

Best DX: 

To the North: 2m VE2PN in Quebec, FN46

To the South: 6m K1HTV in VA, FM18

2M opening from North Carolina to Nova Scotia

 It started yesterday, September 7th, I got a text from Jeff, AJ1L that 2m was open to North Carolina. I worked my way down into the shack to hear K1ISR S9+20 in North Carolina, grid square FM06. I had a quick chat with him and then looked for some digital signals. I found Dave, K1RZ, in FM19 Maryland on FT8. I then worked a few other coastal stations, all with great signals. 

I left the radio on and when I came down into my office to start work the morning of September 8th, I heard some activity on FT8. I quickly nabbed Bill, VA1WV in FN75, Springhill, Nova Scotia. FN75 was a new grid for me! VE1SKY was next in the log, to the south of Bill in FN74. 

Later that evening, after the kids were put to bed, I came into my shack to find the band wide open up and down the coast. K1ISR was back on to the south and VE1SKY was back on to the north! I had a great evening and worked a number of stations, including:

VE1SKY in FN74

AB4SF in FM17

K1RZ in FM19

KD4AA in FM17

W3BFC in FM28

N4ASF in FM27

W3BJ in FM27

KD2QED in FM29

K1ZE in FN31

NG4C in FM16 (although WSJT went braindead)

KD8UD in FM17

All of these QSOs were armchair copy, very easy to work everyone. Most signals were S9+

Here is what the APRS map looked like:

And here is what Hepburn looked like (it's gotten better over the years!)

I think it's safe to say that the big excitement for lots of folks down south was that the opening was really from the NC/VA/MD coast all the way up to Nova Scotia. Roger, VE1SKY was the Belle of the Ball and had folks calling him from every grid between FM06 and FN74. I took a quick video on my phone and posted it to Youtube here:

It would be great if this could hold out for the weekend, as this coming weekend is the ARRL September VHF conference. Experience tells me that the band will be EXCELLENT on Friday and will die about 1pm on Saturday (the contest starts at 2pm).