06/15/2016
Six meters sounded more like an HF band during the ARRL June VHF Contest[1]
over the June 11-12 weekend, as sustained sporadic E (E-skip or Es) openings
greeted participants, making it sound more like an HF band. Some found 6 meter
contacts so bountiful that they tended to neglect the other VHF/UHF bands,
where conditions were more typical.
"As for why the contest weekend was so good, all I can say is that June can be
good for E-skip," said Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, the former "Propagation"
editor for National Contest Journal (NCJ[2]). "I think the term 'sporadic' in
its name is well suited. We just don't understand the detailed processes of 6
meter Es.
For many, it was a 6-meters-only event, with the best conditions in several
years and much of the action on CW. "This was the consummate 50 MHz festival,
with wide open bands throughout most of the contest," Bill Schwantes, W7QQ, in
New Mexico, posted in his soapbox comments on the 3830[3] website. "For the
first time in my memory I felt like a rate junkie, often reaching 200 per hour.
What fun on 6, while ignoring long-haul, weak signal contacts on 144, 222, and
432.
Bob Striegl, K2DRH, who boasts some serious VHF-UHF antennas in upstate New
York, said the band "was going crazy" in the evening from the East Coast to
Europe, and to Japan from the Midwest and South. "In a lull I tuned up JA7QVI,
who was the strongest, and worked him on CW with low power! I even saw some
action to the Caribbean when ZF1EJ and several COs and KP4s called me in my
pileup. I also made a QSO with EA8DBM on SSB, when he was a true S-9." The DX
aside, Striegl's philosophy is that trying to score new DXCC entities in an
event such as this just slows things down, since DX contacts count the same as
any other.
Mike Smith, VE9AA, in New Brunswick called it "A VHF (6 meter) contest I can
write home about." He was one station's first 6 meter contact, "and I was
tickled to do that."
Top-tier HF contester Dan Street, K1TO, in Florida, made his first 6 meter
contact with Japan during the ARRL VHF, only his third ever. "Conditions were
amazingly different for all of us," Street said in his soapbox post. "I watched
in awe as the W1s seemed to have a contest-long opening to somewhere. EA8DBM's
skimmer made an incredible number of USA spots, and he worked stations out to
the West Coast. Yet here in Florida, I never heard him once, nor even one
European."
Eric Gruff, NC6K, in California also didn't get in on the excitement. "Another
frustrating VHF contest from DM13," he posted. "[T]he majority of the time, I
spent listening to the same local stations calling CQ incessantly while the
rest of the country was enjoying a huge opening."
Charlie Panek, KX7L, in Washington, summed things up this way: "Every few years
the planets line up right, and we get a good Es opening during the contest," he
said. "This was one of those years!"
The terrific conditions persisted at least into the next day, when former ARRL
CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, reported working 121 Europeans from Connecticut,
including two new ones - Greece and Romania - bringing his DXCC total to 101 on
the Magic Band.
Lightning could strike twice on the same band, when the SMIRK Contest[4] takes
place on June 18-19.
[1] http://www.arrl.org/june-vhf
[2] http://ncjweb.com/
[3] http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/
[4] http://www.smirk.org/contest.html
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