We just had probably the biggest Es event since I moved to this QTH 8 years ago and it occurred on ... the Summer Solstice. Yesterday (21 June) and into today (22 June), there was a prolonged opening on VHF. Up here it did not reach 2 metres, even though I hoped it might. Nevertheless, it did good work on 10m, 6m and 4m.
I say "biggest" because by one standard it exceeded what I have heard here before. It was a bit surprising as it was not the dramatic "point-to-point" opening so loved on VHF enthusiasts (meaning me). You know, the band is sound asleep and you decide to call CQ and some exotic DX station pops up, works you , and then the band closes again. Crazy, I know, but that is one of the things I like about VHF Es.I recall several on FM where the Dx operator was really someone wanting a chat across town, only to find this crazy Scotsman trying to call them. You can hear the shock in their voice.
No, it was a slow burn. I was a sitting here in the shack working hard on something. I have been here for about a week grafting away on a schedule for something and it really has needed concentration - with the rigs on the background of course.
In the run up to this event, 17 June produces exactly nothing. After working 9H1 as anew country the day before I expected nothing. USUALLY, you do not get two good days on Es after each other ...
18 June started as just a normal day. EA3GNA and EA6ZS on 6m PSK, and LN1V on 4m meteor scatter during the Nordic Activity Contest that evening.
However, at 21:50 I worked EA4BPN and EA5XA on 6m JT65, followed by EA4SG and EA3/ON5VW on 4m SSB. This latter contact, working Marc at 23:12 clock time, was a nice new square - JN12 - but strange so late in the evening.
Next morning, 19th, it was back to the project. It was good to work EA5/G3XGS on 6m JT65. I have seen XGS appear frequently on the cluster on 4m meteor scatter though this was the first time I have worked him (so far).
Nothing else. And on 20 June, nothing at all.
Somehow it seems to build up. I know that with random numbers you think you see a pattern, but I just have this feeling that Es seems to charge and discharge, but surely that cannot be right.
The Solstice started as usual, well as usual as a day with 17 hours and 25 minutes of daylight can do. It just does not get dark on the night of the Solstice, or for a week on either side.
CT4RC called me on 6m JT65 but I lost him. Then I worked HA6ZB on 4m SSB at 11:00, then CT1HZE in a contest on 4m SSB at 13:38. Those are what you would expect on point-to-point days. Then a strange contact with GW4RBR, during which he rose from about 57 to 59. I was beaming South, so was he. If I beamed towards him (South West) he disappeared. The signal had fast fluttery QSB. Some sort of back scatter, I thought, but back scatter from what?
Then, at 15:55, the bands opened. I started on 6m, moved to 4m, and then back to 6m. At times, 4m was like 20m on a bad day. There were stations EVERYWHERE, with several on top of each other or 500Hz apart.
I worked Austria (1), Slovenia (3), Hungary (2), Germany (7), Poland (4), Croatia (1), Czech Republic (1). At one stage I had to go to eat, and I said to Mrs FVM, "this will be over now", but it was still going. And then there was another late opening after 21:49 when I went onto 6m JT65 and worked Poland, France (2), Spain and (on JT9) Italy. Last contact was at 22:42, and at 15 minutes to midnight clock I went to bed.
I have never heard 4m so busy. Gradually more and more countries have got access to the band. At the moment Italy is not on, which is a pity, but to have added more stations would have proved that we really do not have enough space on 70 MHz! I never thought I would say that.
The one respect it was better than before was the appearance of SV3BSF in KM08. I have never worked Greece on 4m, and I had almost thought that it could not be done. However, he was 59 for a long period, and then returned at 59 about an hour later. I could not get through the pileup to reach him. He heard me, but then another station with a similar callsign called him and I lost my chance. Never mind, some other time. But it proves it can be done. Macedonia is another target, but I did not hear that on 4m even though there was a station on the band on both days.
While I was on 4m, I put 6m WSPR on and it was quite a day on that too ...
Now, that is a proper 6m WSPR map.
And to cap all that, 10m was open almost all night. I recorded over 150 spots overnight, from all over Europe.
"They" say that the Solstice is not a good day to look for Es, and they are wrong. Random numbers are a great subject for conspiracy theories. People talk about "lucky" shops to buy lottery tickets, or lucky numbers. Well, in my view 21 June is as good a day as any other for Es.
And then it went on into 22 June. From 09:30 to 10:30 I worked Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, and Romania on the usual mix of 4m/6m SSB/JT65/PSK. So much for my own idea that Es does not work two days in a row .. and on 6m WSPR Gianfranco IU1DZZ plus IK1WVQ, OH3LMN and HB9TJM have been coming in all day on 22 June. HUGE signals at times.
The K number is now 5 and it looks like an aurora could follow. Isn't this great? More on that later. It might never happen, but that would just crown a great couple of days.
In this business you have days with nothing, and then days when you are snowed under. But not usually two days in a row, or could this be a 48 hour continuous opening?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
EDIT - before I posted this, and still on 22 June, I worked IW1CHX, IZ1ESM and I2FAK on 2m. It has been such a long time since there was a good Es opening from here. Years.
EDIT EDIT - since then I worked SV1BGR (KM18VA 2760km). And I thought it wasn't possible on 4m from here, and then as I missed it yesterday I might have a long wait. It was on 70.170, the unofficial German calling frequency, but everybody behaved perfectly and waited until we had finished. And Stavros was very patient - though the QSO went perfectly.
EDIT EDIT EDIT - and I worked DL1PN for a new 4m square and S51RM and 9A6Z and 6m WSPR is still blasting away and the aurora has started, and it is STILL 19:30 on 22 June.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Oh yes, during 21 June I had the attic antenna running with the Flex on 15m WSPR. I was heard in the US, but it radiates North-South so not much happened. However good the Solstice is for VHF, it does nothing at all for HF. I need to try 15m in the Autumn and 40m in the Winter.
It was amazing to watch - WSPR on 15m, 10m and 6m, on three rigs, and the fourth rig on 4m with pile ups in all directions. Do I need all this? Probably not. Am I enjoying it? Certainly.
Cheap rigs. Buy a couple and forget the expensive machinery. Yes, I know some will disagree, but I love it.
73
Jim
GM4FVM
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