[SixClub] Summer 2010 in review

[John Geiger]

So now that the 6 meter Es season is about over (I usually end it after the peak of the Perseids) what has it been like in different parts of the country?  And how has it compared with other years?  I have been on 6m since 1992 so have about 19 Es seasons to compare it to.  Some observations from Oklahoma are:

1. April and May were far above average.  Probably the best April/May I have seen.  The band was open almost every day during that the last week of April and through May, which is ususual.

2. June was a little below average.  We had a fantastic opening on June 2nd (I worked Costa Rica while running 25 watts mobile) but then the band really took a dip.  There was a great opening for the June VHF contest, and I broke my previous 6 meter grid total for that contest.  The weekend after the contest saw our only really good opening to EU on that Sunday AM-I worked Sweden and Germany, not usually countries you think of working on 6m.  Other than that, June did not see as many openings as usual-this is the month that the band is usually open every day.

3. July was far below average.  Probably the worst July I have ever seen on 6m.  The 2nd and 3rd had very nice openings-I worked Spain for a new country on the 3rd-but that was about it for the month.  The rest of the openings were pretty spotty and short lived. Usually the first 10 days or so of July are really hopping, but not this year. There was a nice opening Saturday night during the July CQVHF contest, but it was pretty short lived as well. 

I am not expecting much the rest of July and into August as those are usually slowing down times on 6m-you get some short openings but nothing like June and early July usually are.  It will be interesting to see what the Perseids are like.

One other interesting observation is that we didn't get any openings to speak of into the Carribean Sea. That is very rare here.  Usually we have several openings to the Islands but never heard them here.  Got openings to Costa Rica twice but that was about it for southern openings.

June was probably the best I have seen it for 2 meters, though.  Two long 2 hour Es openings, but another, short, limited Es opening results in 5 new grids on 2m, putting me at 158 grids worked.

73s John AA5JG
Grid EM04-Lawton, OK