[50mhz] 3B9C 6m EME sked results

[Lance Collister, W7GJ (DN27ub)]

Hello!

Well, it was very exciting, but no contact was completed :-( Signals were just 
slightly too weak, and the common moon window just too short.  I copied 7 JT65A 
sequences on their moonrise (my moonset) this morning before the moon set for me.  I 
began copying them when their moon was 4.5 degrees elevation.  None of the sequences 
I copied resulted in callsigns in the AVERAGE window, probably because the weak 
signal traces (as viewed on Spectran) were very "spotty".  Some of that QSB was 
probably due to the Kp index of 3 during the sked.

Over the next few days, as the degradation factor improves, I hope more stations can 
complete with them on 6m EME.  As for me, 3B9C is on the opposite side of the world 
from here, and I have no more common window.  I did find that their DT and DF looked 
very good, though, so Kazu did an excellent job from a remote location :-)

Congratulations to Kjell, SM7BAE, who completed with them on 6m EME over the 
weekend.  It is always tempting to wonder "what if" in retrospect, but also useful 
in assessing the chances of future successes.  I feel confident that if they had had 
a single good computer-optimized 7 or 8 element yagi (rather than the stack of two 
smaller, old, yagis), I would have completed with them this morning (due to the 
additional gain and the lower angle of radiation).

MNI TNX to the 3B9C team for such a great effort, and for the chance to try a 6m EME 
sked with them.  Special thanks to G3SED and JA1RJU for the "warm-up" contacts to 
practice on 6m EME before they left home.  Also thanks for G0MRF for the planning 
for our 6m EME skeds, which began a full year ago.

Hopefully, especially as the solar cycle declines further, more DXpeditions will add 
WSJT mode capability and a good 6m station to their arsenal, in order to take full 
advantage of 6m EME and the rapidly growing number of 6m EME stations around the world.

Hats off to the 3B9C crew for their foresight and dedication to REAL DX!  GL and 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: (406) 626-5728   FAX:(406) 626-5728
URL: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj