Page 10 January February 2018 TCA

SIX METRES AND DOWN

HAPPY VHF DX NEW YEAR!...

30 Years of VHF Reporting contacts; one for North American or Region 2
West‑East contacts; and one for Region 1 and
2018 marks 30 years since I first started writing Region 2 contacts; and so on.
this column. It premiered in the Canadian Radio
Relay League’s (CRRL)publication QST Canada Some ideas have been floated about but no
Dana Shtun, VE3DS in 1988, and later moved to the pages of consensus has yet been reached. Despite this
14 Ashwood Crescent The Canadian Amateur when the CRRL merged lack of wills, we do need to set something up
Toronto, ON M9A 1Z3 that will prevent QRM, particularly during E skip
E: ve3dss@rac.ca with the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation
W: www.qsl.net/ve3dss (CARF) to create our national Amateur Radio openings into Region 1! Just think how PO’d
organization Radio Amateurs of Canada. That you would be if you missed a QSO with
With the arrival of 2018, seems like a lifetime ago and now that I think someone in Europe that you needed for DXCC
one has an opportunity to about it, when I started we had a newborn in the because some local wanted to work some
look back at last year’s DX single hop Es during an opening. Comments?
and the propagation house and we have added two more in the
intervening years and they are all grown now!
modes such as: European 50 MHz FT8 Late Season Sporadic E
Sporadic E openings on I’m not sure how much impact the column has
50 and 144 MHz, Meteor had over the years, but I sincerely hope it has From out in VE7‑land John, VE7DAY, has been
Scatter on 222 MHz, helped get you, our members, interested in the active on FT8 and reported the following in
Tropospheric ducting on broad aspects of the world’s greatest hobby! October:
1296 and 2304 MHz, Thank you for reading my column through the “October 26, six was open in and out from
Trans‑Auroral E skip on years. As always, your articles, photos and 20:27 to 00:19 Oct 27.
50 MHz, and Aurora commentary are welcome and will be shared
contacts on 144 and 222 with everyone who reads TCA and supports During this period I decoded:
MHz. In addition there Amateur Radio in Canada and internationally K6PO DM12 FT8 ‑20; KJ6KO CM98 FT8 +3;
was lots of aircraft scatter through their membership in Radio Amateurs of W7JLC DM34 FT8 +12; W6ATB DM13 FT8 ‑1;
DX on 432, 1296 and Canada! W6DCC DM13 FT8 ‑2; N6PE DM13 FT8 ‑18;
2304 MHz, Earth‑Moon‑ AND K7JA DM03 FT8 ‑7
Earth communications on More Digital Activity FT8 and Havoc!
all bands from 50 up I also worked: 21:46 KF7UV DM26 SSB 59+10;
through the microwave As mentioned in my last column, the FT8 digital :57 W7JLC DM34 SSB 57; 22:12 NR7T DM37
allocations, Television HD mode has taken the world by storm! There are SSB 56; :12 W6ST DM34 SSB 57;
TV and FM TV. however some issues that need to be discussed and :36 K6ZT/m SSB 57
and resolved. One of these has to do with I heard beacons XE2K/b DM12 and K7CA/b
Locally lots of energy was “sequence” as it applies to 50 MHz in particular.
going into developing Here in North American the traditional Meteor DM26. It was nice to have an opening but not
many were on SSB or CW.”
Data mesh networking, Scatter sequence has been in place since the
working Satellite DX, and 1960s. During each minute, each station One has to wonder what will happen during the
of course much Rain 2018 season to our CW and SSB activity if
Scatter on 10 GHz. In transmits for a 15‑second segment, sending everyone piles on FT8!
calls. The westernmost station transmits during
addition there were lots of
happy DXers with new the first and third 15‑second segments; and the Bill, VE3WV, has been badly bitten by the FT8
distance records, VUCC easternmost station transmits during the second bug and has been working single hop DX
grids and contest and fourth 15‑second segments. around the Midwest and out the to the east
successes, as well as The problem arises if there are two stations in coast during November.
those important personal close proximity: one skedding a station out west 50 MHz FT8 TEP Openings!
bests and satisfaction with and the other skedding south or east. This can
learning new things. lead to one station transmitting in the other’s In addition, in South America the Es season is
That’s quite a lot to take in listening period, which can raise havoc! going strong with many stations like LU5FF
when you think about it, The other problem is that 50 MHz can bridge working ZP, CP, PY, OA and some TEP as well.
but that is the nature of IARU Regions – Region 1: Europe, Africa, In late November, PY5CC was working KP4EIT
our wonderful Amateur Middle East and Northern Asia; Region 2: and lots of LU to PY QSOs – nice to see activity
Radio Service! The Americas; and Region 3: Asia‑Pacific. from Puerto Rico again! During one TEP
opening, triggered by solar activity, I was out of
Diversity, technological When the band opens to Europe, we find the the shack but left things on 50.313 FT8
development and Europeans transmitting the “wrong” sequence monitoring, and when I got back I saw that I had
self‑teaching! So if you except for the fact that in Europe it is the copied among others XQ, OA, PY and
haven’t dipped your toes “correct” sequence that they established many CE2AWW, during the prior hour.
into these aspects of our years ago! You can see the problems.
service, then by all means During the month of November, CE2AWW has
come on in – the water is One solution is to establish three frequencies: been running in beacon mode toward ZL and
warm! one for North American or Region 2 East‑West has been copied briefly by the gang down under.
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