So far this morning, 6m condx have been poor, with just MS pings or a weak trace being seen from Remi FK8CP. But things have improved... Remi FK8CP now in on scatter up to RST529, with scatter from Paul VK4MA now also audible - with some doppler/multipath effect evident.

An interesting pulsed carrier that has been heard in last few days when TEP conditions have been experienced on 6m... 50035.972 with 50MHz sidebands. Source unknown!

Finally some life has returned to the 6m band... a day of intense Es propagation, but one interesting contact made from here..

Andy YS1AG worked at 2328z 26/11/2012.

Alerted to the path potential by a spot on VKLogger from Norm VK3DUT, Andy YS1AG was worked on 50.100MHz CW 519 sent, 339 received.

This weekend saw the Spring VHF/UHF Field Day 'contest' run. VK4CZ/P was activated from Walter Franklin Park, high above Kobble Creek (just 11km north west from my home station) in grid square QG62jr.

Station was a simple set-up.

Txcr: FT-857D 50MHz - 100w, 144MHz - 50w, 432MHz - 20w
Antenna: 50MHz - 3el YU7EF yagi, 144MHz - 12 el DL6WU yagi, 432MHz - 29 el DL6WU yagi


Participation was again down on past years, and in whilst many calls were made with antennas facing to both the north and south no 'DX' contacts made (although VK2MAX appeared on 144MHz just as I was packing up!!!!)

Watching the conversations on VKLogger and iChat saw much focus and attention on local participation around SYD and MEL, but nothing that encouraged further development of the paths. The future of VHF/UHF Field Days for operators in SE VK4 requires a significant development in the rules to encourage stations to actively look for participating stations from further afield.

I hope that the recent paper prepared and submitted by Andrew VK1DA and Colin VK5DK to the WIA seeking change is received and acted upon!

Working any DX on 6m has been few and far between, but monitoring the moon today and one decode from Lance W7GJ before local QRM impacted on the noise floor and degraded the signals too much!

Whilst the 6m band continues to seem subdued, occasional signs of life appear. Over the weekend, Andy YS1AG in El Salvador reported hearing me CQn on 50.100 but no two way Q completed.

The TEC map each day has shown areas of high intensity, just like today's (shown below) however paths across or skirting these (like those worked in Feb this year)are non-existent.

Backscatter from Remi FK8CP continues (top trace), but the very interesting dopler effect on Paul VK4MA's signal was a stand-out. Triple trace!

Es link into the SW Pacific with Remi FK8CP being heard direct. Below is screen grab of Remi CQn with MS pings very evident..

As I type this, Peter EA8/G8BCG is working trans-Atlantic paths, yet here looking across the Pacific... ziltch.

Whilst we have had a few TEP openings to JA/HL/BY, these haven't been at the regularity expected for the 'peak' of a solar cycle.

The saving grace here is QG62 against the lack of propagation has been the complete lack of the deliberate 'jamming' and carrier transmissions for the last two weeks.... observations are now starting to determine that this isn't a coincidence, and time will tell if these observations become fact!