Unpredictable Magic Band delivers again....

Just as I was starting to believe that the 6m TEP season was over…..

Yesterday 19 October 2012 the 6m band opened up nicely and a few new DXCC entities EA8-Canary Islands, CT3- Madeira Island and CU- the Azores were worked.  In all three cases the opening was far more west than usual.

My 6m DXCC now stands at 51 worked with 44 confirmed.

Some observations:

SFI=141, A=4 and K=0

Opening started late 15:34Z  and continued until 21:00Z

I managed to make 44 QSOs. I suspect the number of QSOs is not a true reflection of the conditions. Many 6m operators will only call if they have not worked a station before.

Signals were mostly weak with an echo, making the decoding of CW very difficult.

The TV video signals from Iran, Syria, UAE as well as the 49.739/750/760 signals from the Ukraine were very strong, up to S9+  at times, yet very little (no) activity from this area.

The TR0A beacon in Gabon was copied for the first time. I hoped to catch the TJ3AY station, but unfortunately he was not active.

6m History 19 October 2012

ZS6A 6M 19 October 2012

CW Pileup simulator – Pileup Runner

I am pleased to see that another great CW tool has been made available as Freeware. 

The latest program from Alex VE3NEA “Pileup Runner v1.4”

http://www.dxatlas.com/PileupRunner/

We are so fortunate to have these great tools at our disposal.

73, Pierre ZS6A

Time to knuckle down….

The blog image has been changed and will give some clue why I will (or should) be less active on amateur radio for the next few months.

This is a huge change from the old technology I have been accustomed to for the last few years, flying Boeing B737-200F. The Airbus 320 is totally different and it will take a while to get used to all the new concepts and terms.

I will have to limit my AR activities, to chasing the DX expeditions and working 6m, only if the band is reported to be open on the DX cluster.

73, Pierre ZS6A