DL5MAE > VHF 18.06.03 17:55l 102 Radek 5026 Bytu #999 (0) @EU
BID : I6DDB0FSG00T
REAL DX!!!!!
Cesta:OK0NAG<OK0PPL<DB0RES<DB0EA<DB0SIF<DB0MRW<DB0PV<DB0FSG<
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From: DL5MAE @ DB0FSG.#BAY.DEU.EU (Wolfgang)
To: VHF @ EU
Reply-To: DL5MAE @ DB0AAB
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Hi ALL, 
 
I think RZ6BU was lucky 2day and worked SU1GS and SU1ER on 2m via Es 
on 2m FM mode! Thats real DX!!!!! 
 
However, there was also a big opening across the Atlantic... 
Read the story from Ned, AA7A . He is in DM43, Arizona. 
 
From: "Ned Stearns" <aa7a@cox.net>
Subject: [VHF] June 17 opening observations de AA7A
17 June was one of the most amazing evenings on radio for me. Six meters
opened up around 0200Z in a normal summer evening fashion. The MUF was
building steadily until around 0230Z when I started to hear weak signals on
144.200. I fired up the two meter amp and made a quick CQ and worked W7IEY
in CN87 at 0240. The band quickly settled into a very good opening where
there were many 40 over S-9 signals on the band. I managed to log 20
stations in the WA/BC area for the next half hour as I have done in openings
such as this over the past 25 years from Phoenix. But this year, I had done
something different.
 
I had recently completed my 222 station in preparation for this year's June
VHF QSO party. I now use a Yaesu FT-736R with the 220 module, a Mirage 120
watt brick and an M2 8 WL yagi at 25 feet. On a lark, I swung the antenna up
towards the PNW as the opening kicked into that really high gear. I was
alternating working stations on 2m and calling CQ on CW on 222.1. I would
announce when I went to 222 on the two meter frequency and there would be a
bunch who would acknowledged on the two meter frequency that they would
listen on 222.
 
I must say that hearing K7XQ's call pop out of the noise gave me a shock. He
faded out before he was done calling me. I called him for a while longer but
he didn't come back. I went back to two meters to inform him that I heard
him. So, we went back to 222 and after a few minutes he reappeared and we
quickly completed at 0311Z. I was simply amazed. I've been around enough to
know that was a real accomplishment.
 
I heard nothing else on 222 after continued calling, so I went back to two
meters and worked nine more stations in the PNW. I would go aback to 222
every couple of minutes and call CQ on CW. About 20 minutes after my first
222 Es contact, signals picked up a lot on 2 meters and I went back to
calling diligently on 222. I then worked two more stations on 222: K7ND and
W7YOZ around 0340Z. When that peak of that opening was over, I caught them
back on two meters and they were as ecstatic as I was about these contacts.
 
Word apparently got out and I had quite a gang hanging around my two meter
run frequency as I continued to work stations that I could hear on 222 on
the return to two meters to run and coordinate for 222. At 0354Z, 222 caught
fire and I managed to work 5 stations on SSB: W7BNH, KE7SX, W7FHI, K7NQ
(repeat) and KB7DQH. Some of these stations were pushing 40 db over S9. That
was the last station I heard on 222...for a while.
 
I continued to work station on two meters and check 222 for another hour in
this fabulous opening. At 0500Z, NN7J in CN85 informed me that I was louder
than ever on two and that we should try 222. After a few calls, he came back
on 222.1 and was pinning the meter. We completed quickly. At this point, I
was thoroughly spent.
 
The sporadic E continued until around 0530Z. For the next 30 minutes,
stations in Northern CA were worked until the last signal faded out at
0600Z.
 
My totals for the evening were as follow:
 
2 meters:
78 unique stations in 20 grids over a time span of 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Twelve grids were contacted with straight Es, 7 grids in northern CA on
straight FAI and a contact in one grid (CN90) where the propagation mode
waffled between Es and FAI.
 
Grids worked on two meters were:
CM87, 89, 97, 98, 99
CN80, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 96
DM07
DN06, 07, 13, 17
 
222 MHz:
9 contacts (8 unique) in 3 grids (CN85, 87 and 96) on Es over a time span of
almost two hours
 
As some have said about previous openings, the QSB on the signals on 222
were very fast. When I heard the first signals on the 222 band, my brain was
anticipating the normal slow roll in signal strength that you see on Es
signals on two meters. The QSB fade was at a significantly higher rate on
222. I wish I had turned on the digital recorder but I had a few other
things making demands on my attention at that time.
 
The 222 MHz band was probably "open" nearly as long as the two meter band.
My two meter station is very good, consisting of 1500 watts, six 3.2
wavelength yagis and a mast mounted low-noise preamp. My EIRP is probably
nearly 20 db higher on two meters than 222 MHz. Some of the station I worked
in the PNW were running only 10 watts into a single modest length yagi. I
can only imagine what I would have done with a similarly equipped 222
station as my two meter EME setup. Or, better yet, stations of that
magnitude at both ends of the circuit. I think it is time to re-think my
winter antenna project.
 
73 and keep the filaments burning,
Ned/AA7A