Posts Tagged ‘6m’
HF or VHF?
May 2nd, 2015 | 
Author: Depending on the solar cycle, and how good it is, both 10m and 6m can behave quite differently. Sometimes 10m is a true HF band with good worldwide DX possibilities. In better years, even 6m can support F2 worldwide propagation. However, for a lot of the solar cycle both 10m and 6m behave like VHF bands. This means Es can be an effective mode on both bands especially in the spring and summer months. Other modes like tropo can also be used on 10m and 6m. Both bands can be used for local natters on any mode.
At the moment we are in a transition period. On better days 10m is still good for worldwide DX but as time progresses, it will behave more and more like a VHF band with long periods of quiet. Especially as we move to more VHF conditions modes like WSPR become even more useful: short DX openings can be detected with WSPR. Leaving a simple WSPR rig running can be so useful and take very little power.
As I have mentioned before, I have worked real 10m N-S DX (11000+ km) on QRP SSB even in the quietest of sunspot years. WSPR is considerably better than SSB, requiring far less power and can be used unattended running in the background. I tend to run 10m and 6m WSPR most days and monitor WSPRnet on a different PC in the lounge. It takes just seconds to go into the shack and make any adjustments needed. It means, whilst running WSPR, you can do other things.
More Magic
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| LU6QI |
For the third day in a row, someone has sprinkled 6m magic-dust over the Pacific Northwest with more long-haul propagation into southern South America. The openings have been characterized by their very small footprints and today, unlike the previous two days, the footprint locked-in on my own QTH for over an hour.
For the most part, signals were in the 559 range but at times would build up to true 599 levels, reminiscent of the previous cycle's F2 north-south openings in the afternoon.
During the entire opening, strong sporadic -e signals from California, Arizona and Nevada were present so I suspect that the propagation mode was Es to TEP and from there to southern SA who knows! I doubt there was any F2 involved (unless it was ver SA) as the solar flux just doesn't seem to be high enough to support that mode. In all likelihood, the present coronal hole stream that is impacting the ionosphere has been the trigger for these unheralded openings.
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| courtesy: https://maps.google.ca/ |
During the opening, the following stations were worked, mostly on CW but some on SSB as their signals were very loud at times:
CX90IARU, LW6DG, LU6QI, CE2AWW, CX3AL, LU5FF, CX1DDO, LU4FPZ, CX6DRA and CE3SX.
As mentioned in my last blog ... who knows what this cycle will do next as the surprises just keep coming!
Is there enough dust left for a fourth day in a row?
Persistent Cycle 24
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| courtesy: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ |
Our Sun's latest rotation is showing several new large sunspot groupings, all very capable of unleashing a new round of solar flares and associated disruption ... if nothing else, Cycle 24 is persistent!
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| courtesy: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/ |
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| courtesy: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ |
The software gurus at NOAA have been busy once again, this time revamping several of their visual models to an 'animated' mode. The Ovation Auroral map is particularly interesting when run in this mode as it shows the auroral field's activity visually over the past 24 hours. The display gives one a new appreciation for the dynamics of such large scale events:
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| courtesy: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/radio-communications |
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| courtesy: http://www.dxmaps.com/ |
A Buzzy Day On The Magic Band
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| courtesy: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ |
A swift-moving Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) arrived earlier than predicted, slamming into the earth's atmosphere shortly after 0430z yesterday morning. What begin as a small K5 disturbance quickly grew to a K8, signalling the strongest geomagnetic storm of Solar Cycle 24.
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| courtesy: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ |
It didn't take long for the VHF bands to start filling up with auroral signals as 6m diehards soon discovered that something was amiss.
Throughout all of the day, strong auroral signals were copied and many stations were worked from here in SW British Columbia. Having the peak conditions in the middle of a working day meant hearing fewer stations than might normally be expected compared with an evening event, yet dozens of stations, including Colorado, made it out west ... even on 2m!
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| courtesy: http://www.on4kst.org/chat/index.php |
Strong auroral events like this, especially at the equinox, can trigger swift rises in the F2 MUF as conditions return to normal. Hopefully 6m will unleash some of its F2 magic for what might be one of the cycle's last big hurrahs.
The Boys of Summer
This past week, Les Rayburn (N1LF), compared his yearn for the start of spring baseball to the late spring return of summer VHF openings, with this delightfully nostalgic post to the VHF reflector.It occurred to me this morning that being a VHF operator is a lot like being a baseball fan. It was warm and sunny here yesterday, and this morning the air has that first touch of Spring in it.
Sure, there arestill cold days ahead--but you just have that feeling that we've turned the corner on Winter. The days are getting a bit longer, and the sun doesn't set quite so early anymore.
And like baseball fans, we start to look forward to those first
rumblings out of the Spring league.
For me, that means the confident voice of August, K5HCT. Nothing heralds
the arrival of the season like those first faint signals and the
familiar refrain..."Here Comes Texas!". This is nearly always the first
call I hear in the season, and the last remaining on the band at it's end.
In my boyhood days, I loved listening to baseball on the radio at night.
Those far away places, and the crack of the bat---mixed with the static
and pops of Summer storms. It was like a magic carpet that could
transport me thousands of miles away...The rest of the year, I still
enjoyed tuning the dial during the overnight hours--maybe listening to
the Herb Jepko Nightcap show from Salt Lake, or Larry King---but radio
wasn't the same without baseball. And those months between the World
Series and Opening Day were the longest of the year.
All these years later, things haven't changed much. I still love
listening to baseball on the radio---but now while waiting for opening
day, I find myself turning another dial...listening hard in the static
to see if I can hear that faint signal on the calling frequency. A deep,
rich, confident voice calling "This K5HCT, Here Comes Texas!".
Somebody press play on that MP3 player or I-Phone---cue up Don Henley's
"Boys of Summer"...I'll hum along and wait for Spring.
--
--
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf
6m QRP rigs
In many ways, 6m (50MHz) is an ideal band for experiments. Short RF leads are always good, but 6m is a forgiving band and you can get away with HF constructional techniques. It is 2MHz wide here in the UK and this means all speech modes can be fitted and used. The page below shows a number of links to 50MHz projects.
See http://www.pg1n.nl/articles.php?lng=en&pg=145 .
See also my Sixbox 6m AM transceiver .
6m – magic band, really?
Why do I bother on 6m WSPR? Apart from G6AVK (78km) with whom I exchanged spots more than a week ago I have had no success at all on 6m WSPR out of the Es season. I get plenty of success on 10m with less power. I go on 6m WSPR because I can do so at the same time as being on 10m. I get far more success on 630m with an ERP of just 5mW. I think I am going to give up on the “magic band” until April or May. Maybe I really do need 100W and a big yagi up high in the sky to make the band “magic” at this time of the year. My 1W ERP from a V2000 vertical omni antenna just isn’t enough or maybe all the activity is on other modes?
