6 Meter E's

My radio plans for tonight were to do some military aviation monitoring, but a 6 Meter E-Skip opening changed things. Throughout the day I checked 6 Meters to see if it was open but each time I found nothing. After dinner, I decided to make one last check and I'm glad I did. 6 Meters was wide open into the north and northeast and it made for a productive radio evening. Taking advantage of the conditions, I worked 19 stations over a 3 hour period, several of which required patience because it took awhile to get through the pileups. Throughout the evening I worked stations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, Canada as well as stations in Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I also picked up some new grids: EN82, EN83, FN11, FN54, FN66, and FN74.

About 20 minutes after turning on the radios this evening I worked Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. My contact with VE9SIX was my first 6 Meter contact in New Brunswick on 6 Meters although I have worked New Brunswick before on 20 Meters.

After numerous attempts, I finally worked KB3RHR/W1 working portable in Cape Naddick, Maine. Craig had quite the pileup and it took me a long time and a lot of patience to get through.

Similarly, it took me quite awhile to get through the pileup that K1RQG, Joe in Bucksport, Maine had going. Joe is in EN54 and that was a new grid for me, I kept on trying an patience finally paid off; now all I have to do is send off a card.

Another good contact was G6DHU/W1 in Buxton, Maine. I didn't realize it until after I ran his call through QRZ after the QSO, but it was Mike Chace-Oritz, the well known utility monitoring expert. I wish I would have known it at the time!

At the end of the evening, I was hearing N7JW in Utah on 50.139 USB. Utah on 6! I'd never heard that far west on 6 before. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make a contact despite numerous attempts, I had him at 51 at best and he was giving reports of 58-59 to the stations he was working.

Nevertheless, it was a great evening on 6 Meters and I truly had a lot of fun on the radio tonight. It never ceases to amaze me that you can work DX with 100 watts or less and an antenna not very much longer than your arm span. I'm looking forward to a great 6 Meter E-Skip season on 6 Meters.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net