You may have caught my post from a few days ago titled Transequatorial Propagation — Six Meter Magic. There I extolled yet another magic experience on six meters working into Argentina and Chile. Just a few days later that was topped — and topped by quite a bit.
You can get a glimpse of the activity level from the tweaked image above from DXmaps.com. Lots of activity in the USA, the Caribbean, and via TEP into South America.
A few days ago I’d worked quite a few stations but not one new grid. That happens when you’re at 452 grids worked. But yesterday was a completely different story. I managed to add 10 new grids to my log and 4 new countries. The new countries included HP2DFA in Panama, HC2AO in Ecuador, CX6DRA in Uruguay, and CP6UA in Bolivia.
With CP6UA I managed to work him twice. In the first go around I got his signal report but a local station obliterated any responses. In the second round a few minutes later, I got the signal report along with a Worked B4 73 message. So he’s in the log.
I was also able to work a number of new grids in the USA. These were relatively close grids that I’d been trying to snag but no luck in the past. This time I left my antenna pointing southeast, heard the stations, and gave them a call. That worked nicely.
I’m wondering if the difference this year was the horizontal Yagi rather than the vertical I’d been using over the last couple of years. There could have been a polarization difference over the short haul. That difference didn’t come into play over long hauls, including into Europe. But relatively local grids could have easily been affected.
I hope you’re on the air and experiencing some of this magic. Of course, it could soon turn to completely quiet. Best to enjoy it while you can.
