[AK-VHF] 6m Activity

[Paul Kiesel]

Hello, All!
Been a while since I jumped in here to say anything,so now would be a good time to do it.
As you all know, 6m is a VHF band and has the mostactivity world-wide. This year, we in the lower-48and lower Canada have been experiencing some prettygood propagation conditions on the magic band. A 
little over a week ago, many US and Canadian 
stations experienced a big opening to parts south,including all the way to Argentina, Uruguay, 
Ecuador and Colombia. There were many stations onin Mexico and Central America, as well. This 
particular opening was unexpected, as it came wellshort of the usual beginning of the Northern 
Hemisphere sporadic E season, which normally startsup in May. Since the opening to South America, theband has continued to open sporadically to areasaround North America. 

There is a lot of recent chatter about stationsnot having heard Alaska for many years. Manystations have never worked Alaska on 6m. So, I amgoing to urge those Alaskans who think they might 
have an interest in working DX on six meters to 
consider getting up a decent-gain antenna and give 
it a shot. By decent-gain, I mean at least a fiveelement yagi and have it be as high as you can getit. This means devoting some time and money to it,and some won't have the opportunity because of 
where they live. For sporadic E, antennapolarization is not important, but I suggesthorizontal because of ease of mounting the antennaand the elimination of tower parts getting in theway of the elements.
The majority of QSOs on 6m these days are beingmade using the FT8 mode of WSJTx. The 6m band-plan frequency for FT8 is 50.313 MHz. This is whereyou would find a lot of 6m activity.
A good place to keep an eye on activity is theON4KST Region II Chat page. You will need to 
register just once to use it. 

Knowing when to watch for DX on 6m takes somegetting up to speed, as there is a lot to take intoaccount. But, sporadic E is generally a daytimemode that sometimes extends into the night.
That's enough for now. If you think you might havean interest in talking to people beyond the otherside of town, consider making the move to get onsix meters in a way that will get you heard by theDX.
BTW, I think Ed keeps track of Alaska VHF distancerecords. A fun activity is establishing andbreaking a distance record. I keep track of distancerecords for the Pacific Northwest VHF Societymembers. You can view it here:
PNWVHFS Distance Scoreboard

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PNWVHFS Distance Scoreboard


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73,Paul K7CW / VE7IBAVG Awards Guy