[SixClub] Backscatter on Sporadic E

[Gene - W5DQ]

Wes, welcome to 6M. It's not called the Magic Band for nothing :)

Backscatter happens quite often on 6M. Probably not near as much as Es but when it does happen it makes for some really interesting beam pointing. I once worked a couple of hams in Albequerque, NM which is appx one Es hop due east from here in So Cal. I had the beam pointing east towards them and they had their beams pointing east away from me. Since they claimed they were working backscatter and figured Es since it was towards them, I had one of them rotate to the west and he totally disappeared. When he rotated back east, he came back strong. With that I assumed I was working off the cloud back into ABQ from the east reflecting off the cloud too. One of the weirdest QSOs I ever had on 6M. I have worked several stations to the north and northeast of here with the beam pointing to the east and southeast.

BTW I'm in DM15 Northern Mojave desert of SoCAL

Gene, W5DQ
Ridgecrest, CA


----- Original Message -----
From: "Wes Spence" <ac5k at sbcglobal.net>
To: sixclub at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 9:10:47 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [SixClub] Backscatter on Sporadic E

I am fairly new to 6, but on HF CW for almost 4 decades.  I just put up 
a 4 element beam for 6 over the weekend, and worked WA8ZBT on 
backscatter last night off the Es cloud that was allowing the strong 
opening to Mexico.  I am in Southeast Texas and ZBT is in Dallas.  
During the short CW QSO,I turned the beam toward him and his signal went 
away confirming it was backscatter.  I was not aware this was common on 
6, but will listen for in it the future.

73, Wes, AC5K
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