[Elecraft] 6M E-skip

[marvwheeler at nwlink.com]

In 58 years of amateur radio operation, I had never been on 6 meters until last year. I was told about the Fred Fish Award and the rarity of CN77 on 6 meters I decided to dive it. I did not get on the band until late July last year but was able, this year, to confirm 2261 contacts this year. It has been fun.

Marv
KG7V
CN77 

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net <elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 7:43 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] 6M E-skip

On 8/27/2020 12:26 PM, Rick Bates, NK7I wrote:
> Jim, I'd submit that not only is 160M more challenging on the left 
> coast, but 6M is worse since it tends to be N/S much of the time and 
> even the coastline leans left so not many stations are south. ;-P   6M 
> like 160, also 'spotlights' but in pinpoints.  I have managed DXCC on 
> 160M since the move, 6M is still a greater challenge (up to 6 so far, 
> it's a start).

NC6K has made some interesting posts concerning how 6M Sporadic-E propagation is related to upper level winds, which in turn is strongly related to topography. He's explained some events by studying upper atmosphere weather plots.

Most of my hamming from late April to early August is spent on 6M, in pursuit of new grids. Yes, Sporadic E (Es) can be very "spot-lighty," 
especially for double-hop openings, which is what it takes to reach beyond about 1800 miles, and even more so to hit Japan. For double-hop to happen, two Es hot spots must exist AND line up; it's quite common to make multiple QSOs into a single grid, then 10-20 minutes later in an adjacent grids as the spotlight moves. And, of course, to make those QSOs there must be stations there on the other end.

This season, there was a week-long expedition to a rare grid in the Northern Peninsula of MI; they were workable from NorCal for a few hours on two days. I managed to work one expedition to a grid a few hundred miles inland from the Gulf Coast that was there for several days, but missed one to another grid.

Es prop peaks around the summer solstice, and is pretty good for a month or so either side, falling off gradually. Year round, and for distances less than about 1200 miles, meteor scatter and ionospheric scatter are effective with good antennas, power, and persistence. I picked up about
8 new grids this season with MS.

73, Jim K9YC
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