[NLRS] 6M open again today

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

In years past while sysopping packet nodes on 2m I found them very 
optimistic that a path existed if they heard a beacon for one burst 
(meteor or aircraft scatter) in the past several hours yet no connection 
could be made. Fortunately the node software could be set to ignore 
nodes other than in a list of adjacent nodes to prevent them thinking 
the longer paths were good.

Last week I listened on 50.125 for a while after a post here and I heard 
only a single voice meteor ping lasting a few seconds in half an hour or 
so which made me thing the reporter is overly optimistic for old 
fashioned modes. I prefer modes that take some operator skill having 
been developing those skills for the last 59 years. Digital modes to me 
require very little operator skill, the depend on the skill of the 
programmer and that's what I did for a living, not a hobby for decades.

Low voice activity on VHF can be a sign of everybody listening, or no 
radios at all turned on and connected to antennas.

73, Jerry, K0CQ

On 6/29/2015 11:27 AM, Doug Reed wrote:
>
>
> PSKreporter.info is saying that 6M is open again today. At 11AM the
> map is showing lots of activity from Toronto and New York to Louisiana
> and Florida, plus Oklahoma and Kansas to the east coast. The map even
> shows another Minnesota station, K0MVJ in EN36 being heard by N9JY in
> Florida, unless of course one of them has moved without updating their
> address.....
>
> Don't forget, the activity being displayed is in digital JT65 mode on
> 50.277MHz. The specs for JT65 say it can be decoded up to 24dB below
> the noise floor. The way I read that is that you may need very high
> power to make the QSO on SSB voice. My off-the-cuff guess would be
> that you need 100 watts SSB to do what 1 watt or less of JT65 is
> doing, so don't be disappointed if any voice Q's come hard.
>
> FWIW, last night the PSKreporter.info map showed the band was open to
> the west coast after 8PM CDT and they were talking all over the
> southern and eastern US. If you are chasing WAS on 6M, you would
> probably be well advised to try the digital modes to help find
> activity. You might be able to complete in one summer... Good luck!
>
> 73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.
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