[50mhz] JA operators now officially permitted to operate 6m EME :-)

[Lance Collister]

As of 1500Z today, JA 6m operators were officially permitted by the Japanese
government to operate 6m EME.  Previous 6m contacts with Japan had not been
officially sanctioned. 

At 1532Z today, JH2COZ copied my final RRR, making him the first JA to
officially/legally complete a JA 6m EME contact.  Shortly thereafter, WA4NJP and
JE1BMJ also completed a JT65 contact.  I also have JT65B skeds with a number of
other JA stations in the next few days during the JA moonrise.

JH2COZ had manually elevated his single 8 element yagi and fixed it around 35
degrees elevation for the sked today.  Signals are often much better when
antennas are left on the horizon, since then ground gain can make the single
yagi perform more like 4 yagis....however, Yasu wanted to try to complete as
soon as possible after the permission was granted today.  

East coast USA 6m operators are especially well suited to take advantage of the
many fine 6m stations in Japan, since moonrise in Japan is the same as moonset
along the USA East Coast during northern moon declinations each month.  With
ground gain on both ends, there should be many good contacts in the coming
months.

I began receiving good JT65B signals from JH2COZ at 1509Z, and by 1515Z had
received complete calls and OOO reports. I received my first RO at 1523Z, and
Yasu received final RRR from me at 1532Z.  The two tone JT65 "shorthand
messages" (RO, RR and 73) are very easy to identify also on Spectran, and I have
posted a photo showing one of the RO sequences from Yasu on my web page at:  

http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/JH2COZro.jpg

There also a good .wav file (-25 dB strength) of Yasu's RO on my website at:

http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/JH2COZ1525ro.wav

NOTE: For those of you wishiing to copy the above .wav file, remember that in
this version of JT65B (WSJT version 4.3.4), you must use a FREEZE filter with a
TOL of 50, and a SYNC of 2, in order to clearly display shorthand messages.  (I
understand from K1JT that this requirement will be corrected in the next
update).

I also have other .wav files from both ends of the contact if anyone is
interested in them.  That is one of the nice things about JT65 contacts -
excellent archival copies of exactly what was received by each station ;-)

It is nice to begin to see 6m EME activity from Asia, and hopefully more DXCC in
Asia will now also become interested.  Gud DX to all!  VY 73, Lance

 
-- 
Lance Collister, W7GJ (ex: WN3GPL, WA3GPL, WA1JXN, WA1JXN/C6A, ZF2OC/ZF8)
P.O. Box 73
Frenchtown, MT  59834  USA
QTH: DN27UB
TEL/FAX: (406) 626-5728
URL: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj