XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated

PE4BAS Amateur Radio Weblog

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ES season 2021 6m/4m review

Posted: 19 Aug 2021 03:48 AM PDT https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2021/08/es-season-2021-6m4m-review.html


I could have made a blog post every new 6m DX contact but that takes time which I wanted to spend at the radio. 6m DX propagation is rare, it could
be there for 5 minutes or less and then vanish into the noise. You have to
be there when it occurs and be the first calling. If too late others are
taking the empty places in the FT8 waterfall and you are probabely
doubling. It happened to me a few times this season, it is unfortunate but
I hope to get a chance again next year. However, I should not complain
since I worked 20 new 6m band DXCC this year accomplishing a total of 103
DXCC worked on the 6m band. Not everything was real DX but not worked
before from Europe. But overall the majority was unbelievable DX to places
I never heard/seen before on 6m in the previous years. This season I also logged separately what I heard/decoded but not worked. Since it is most important that you hear/decode the DX first before you can work it. Always
a challenge since the noise is increasing every year due to solarpanels,
cheap power supplies, LED lightning and other electronics. If you want to
know more about how signals travel long distances (DX to
north/south/central America and Japan or even Australia) you could read
this article: https://www.uksmg.org/content/sporade.htm. Although this
article is not complete since it is believed that air polution does affect certain anomalies in the atmosphere that reflect radio signals.
Below a summary of new DXCC worked during this season:

This season I noticed that our HAM friends from the middle east have
mounted big 6m yagis in their huge towers. That gave most of the European
6m stations the opportunity to work them. The season started for me working A61ZX from the United Arabic Emirates on 13-May which is quite early in the season.



In between some amazing propagation to the USA happened on 19-May. I made
my first QSO to the states on 6m SSB with WC2K. You can listen to the QSO
here: https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2021/05/amazing-6m-propagation-19-may.html Next new DXCC was from the Azores. I did see them before but a QSO never happened. CU6NS was the first I worked from that island on 23-May.

Transatlantic DX is always special. After the QSO to the Azores the
propagation extended on 23-May working Venezuela YV5NEA.




Propagation did hold on at that date. I saw VP2EIH from Anguilla with a
very good signal. I already called many times when he suddenly dissappeared from the band. When still watching the screen in disbelieve I suddenly
decoded a report from him to me after all! I quickly sent a RR73 and
received his 73 in return, mission accomplished on 23-May.


The 4m band did open as well sometimes. However unfortunately not as many
times as last year. It seems propagation was better in the southern part of
the Netherlands. However on the 25th of May I worked YL21ICE from Latvia
for a new DXCC on that band. Something I haven't seen before is a special
QSL service page were you can download your QSL if you like. https://qsl.services/event/YL21ICE An initiative which is most welcome.


At the same day I worked EY8MM from Tajikistan on 6m.



Another middle east station A71CT from Quatar was worked on 5-June.







The middle east fun continued since only a few minutes later I worked A92AA from Bahrain.


The 6th of June Japan appeared on my receive map for the first time of the season. At the same day I was lucky to QSO with 3A2MW from Monaco. A QSO
with this DXCC is always difficult since operators there have less room for antennas, there is a lot of noise and there is a big mountain blocking some signals. For sporadic E propagation the last thing is not that important.

CT3MD from Madeira was worked on 8-June.




After some efforts and almost complete QSOs in May I finally worked CN8LI
from Marocco on 11-June. Searching for a QSL picture for this blogpost I
found that he has a blog as well. He even report a visit to the
Netherlands. Read it here: https://cn8li73.blogspot.com/2017/09/trip-to-netherlands.html
Unfortunately most of his writing is in french, although this is not really
a big problem with google translate you can read every language these days.


The hunt for OJ0C started....but first I worked OH0AZX from Aland Island on 13-June, which was also a new one on the 6m band. Unfortunately I couldn't
find a nice QSL picture.


In the mean time I checked the 4m band regulary. I was lucky to work 5B4AAB from Cyprus on 17-June. I received a +10dB report which is very strong. I
guess he's using a pre-amp on 4m? This was my second new DXCC on 4m this
season and although I saw more new ones a QSO just didn't happen...I guess
I'll have to wait for next year.


19-June was my lucky day working OJ0C from Market Reef finally after
hunting them for a week on 6m. And I did make the QSO on.... SSB! Well a
short post about that can be read here: https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2021/06/6m-finally-oj0c-and-1st-japan-qso-2021.html.
I also had my first Japan QSO of the season this day.

I worked TR8CA from Gabon on 20-June. Did not see many report this station.
He was suddenly there and I had the luck to be on with the antenna in the
right direction.


It occured to me I never actually worked Wales on 6m. I hoped to work
fellow blogger MW1CFN John but I never saw him on 6m. It happened I could
work GW0KIG as first from Wales on 28-June. When searching for a nice
picture I found his nice weblog: http://gw0kig.blogspot.com/ I remember I
got it in the blogroll as well. Unfortunately it hasn't been updated for
over a year.




Also on 28-June a station I seen a few times already on 6m. The propagation
to the caribbian started to really get in here at twilight almost every day
at the end of June. You just had to wait for the strongest ionisation. I
worked J35X from Grenada with fair signals.


Tried several times to get a QSO with KP2/K0BZ from US Virgin Islands in
the log. Several attempts on both FT8 and FT4 ending in half QSOs without receiving a RR or 73 made me desperate. I wrote Brad an e-mail and he
replied to me that every time he called CQ there were many stations
calling. He generously offered me that as soon as he would see me he would
call me first and hold on to me to finish a valid QSO. But then I didn't
see him for a few weeks. I almost gave up till 7-July when in twilight the greyline propagation boosted his (and my own) signal. He kept his word and replied to me quite fast when I started to call him. And finally could add
him to my log for a new DXCC on 6m. Brad has a interesting QRZ page to
read. This guy seems to be addicted to hamradio and certainly has the right hamspirit.
I still had luck with caribbian stations...
There was suddenly a uplift in propagation on 17-July. Of course at
twilight again...I worked P43A from Aruba and this actually was my DXCC nr.
100 on the magic band. See: https://pe4bas.blogspot.com/2021/07/100-dxcc-worked-on-50mhz.html



Not long after that QSO I worked PJ4KY from Bonaire. I almost forgot that actually 6m is in fact an UHF band.





Many operators think now that the end of July things start changing. The ES season ends. And of course this is true. But still DX could be worked, even late July and the start of August. During a good opening to north america I noticed V31MA from Belize was active on the DX frequency 50.323. Monitoring there for a while he suddenly appeared on my screen. A few calls later the
QSO was finished. JTDX did a good job decoding since I didn't even see his trace on the very busy waterfall. This happened on 22-July.
Actually even I thought this would be my last DX contact on 6m for this
season. But on 25-July I worked HK3PJ from Colombia which is no doubt my
ODX into south america (almost 9000km).






So far in I didn't work any DX in August. But it can still happen...
This year I also kept een small log from stations I've seen but didn't have
a QSO with. Hopefully I'll have another chance next year.
Heard 6m
03-6-2021 HC1BI 19:36 Ecuador
03-6-2021 HC2FG 19:45 Ecuador
03-6-2021 HC1HC 20:41 Ecuador
03-6-2021 ZF1EJ 21:11 Cayman Isl.
05-6-2021 YI1SAL 14:49 Iraq
19-6-2021 BA4SI 07:15 China (almost QSO with R-19 report)
19-6-2021 VR2XYL 08:46 Hong Kong
19-6-2021 SU1SK 08:54 Egypt
19-6-2021 T6AA 09:37 Afghanistan
20-6-2021 OX3HI 11:20 Greenland
21-6-2021 OX3LX 20:24 Greenland
23-6-2021 XT2AW 18:51 Burkina Faso
28-6-2021 8P2K 20:11 Barbados

5-7-2021 VP2V/K3TRM 18:40 British Virgin Isl
7-7-2021 PJ2BR 20:58 Curacao
7-7-2021 PJ2CF 21:03 Curacao
11-7-2021 AP2AM 06:05 Pakistan
17-7-2021 HL2EIZ 7:12 S.Korea
17-7-2021 DS4EOI 7:12 S.Korea
31-7-2021 FS/W8HC 19:13 St.Martin
3-8-2021 PJ2CF 20:19 Curacao
3-8-2021 PJ2MAN 20:07 Curacao
3-8-2021 HC2FG 19:18 Ecuador
Heard 4m
10-6-2021 19:38 GD0TEP Isl. Man
4-7-2021 11:48 5T5PA Mauritania
12-7-2021 17:52 4O6AH MontenegroIt certainly was an interesting ES season.
Some say it was one of the best in the last few decades. Some QSOs between Europe and Australia and even New Zealand were reported. This only happens
when there is magic going on...let's see what 2022 ES season brings us...

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