Besides handing out a few QSOs in the ARRL-10M contest last weekend I also spent some time on VHF as the Geminids meteor shower was around. It almost always coincides with the 10 m contest so one can share time between the contest and meteor scatter quite nicely. The shower usually also enhances condx on 10 m, i.e. stimulating some Sporadic-E propagation which unfortunately was not the case this time. Maybe because the meteor peak was only predicted for Monday evening …
I did not expect to add any new squares during the shower as portable activity is usally rather sparse during winter time. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to see Jussi, OH6ZZ, being active from KP13 as OH8K for a few days providing a new one to many. Also nice to catch GM6VXB/P in IO57. Martin’s QRL includes technical duties on Scottish lighthouses so he travels a lot across the islands and always tries to be active on 2 m MS then as time permits. Good catch! 😎 Not any less pleasant but certainly easier from a reachability perspective was working residents EI2KK in IO65, IK8XFR in JM89 and SM2DUX in KP05 for another three new ones. Five in total sure was nothing I would have expected! 🙂
Monday evening the band also opened via Aurora. To keep an eye on NOAA’s Aurora forecast always pays off. 😉 Interestingly reflection zones varied broadly between 340 and 30° so I wondered why it did not enable QSOs into more southern regions which is usually the case then. On 6 m I even found 330° best to hear the two GM stations active on SSB Aurora although I did not reach them due to too low power overhere. Although SSB is much easier to copy on 6 m as the auroral distortion is less pronounced then on 2 m it still demands more ERP then CW. Another reason why you *do* need CW to work the real DX on VHF, too. 😉 And generally 2 m always seems much easier on Aurora then 6 m … but that might also be just a simple question of ERP as you usually do have higher gain antennas on the higher bands assuming same available space … simple physics. 😉 The Scottish guys reported visible Aurora at high elevation, too, which matches nicely to the beam headings needed overhere.
After all a few very nice evenings on VHF again … 😎
------------------------------------------------------------------ DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR BAND MODE PRO. QRB ------------------------------------------------------------------ 12/12/15 22:00 OH8K KP13FA * 2 m. FSK441 MS 1193 12/12/15 22:33 GM6VXB/P IO57RT * 2 m. FSK441 MS 1513 12/12/15 23:54 UR6EM KN67RV 2 m. FSK441 MS 1476 13/12/15 07:03 RO3X KO73FU 2 m. FSK441 MS 1336 13/12/15 07:12 LZ2FO/2 KN14KA 2 m. FSK441 MS 1200 13/12/15 07:35 UT4LA KN89CW 2 m. FSK441 MS 1556 13/12/15 07:46 RM1A KO59BU 2 m. FSK441 MS 1220 13/12/15 08:02 USØGB KN67UA 2 m. FSK441 MS 1543 13/12/15 18:28 ER1AN KN46KX 2 m. FSK441 MS 1250 13/12/15 18:35 UT8AL KO61WP 2 m. FSK441 MS 1340 13/12/15 22:18 EI2KK IO65CA * 2 m. FSK441 MS 1442 13/12/15 22:26 SV6KRV KMØ9KO 2 m. FSK441 MS 1592 13/12/15 22:30 LZ5D KN22UL 2 m. FSK441 MS 1464 13/12/15 22:37 YU7ON KNØ4AX 2 m. FSK441 MS 1006 13/12/15 23:16 EA3AXV JNØ1TJ 2 m. FSK441 MS 1613 13/12/15 23:24 F6DRO JNØ3TJ 2 m. FSK441 MS 1428 13/12/15 23:49 9A4V JN95KI 2 m. FSK441 MS 934 13/12/15 23:54 RU1AA KO48VR 2 m. FSK441 MS 1145 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 14/12/15 18:19 SMØNKZ JO99IQ 2 m. CW AUR 773 14/12/15 18:23 SM7GVF JO77GA 2 m. CW AUR 427 14/12/15 18:29 SM4IVE JO79SD 2 m. CW AUR 667 14/12/15 18:34 LA6OJ JO38HH 2 m. CW AUR 740 14/12/15 18:38 GM4VVX IO78TA 2 m. CW AUR 1279 14/12/15 18:43 LA3PK JO59KW 2 m. CW AUR 777 14/12/15 18:45 YL2FZ KO37QI 2 m. CW AUR 952 14/12/15 18:48 OH5LK KP3ØON 2 m. CW AUR 1134 14/12/15 18:51 SM4CSK JO79LG 2 m. CW AUR 678 14/12/15 18:53 OH2M KP21TD 2 m. CW AUR 1117 14/12/15 18:57 GM3WOJ IO77WS 2 m. CW AUR 1257 14/12/15 19:04 OZ4VV JO46QU 6 m. CW AUR 511 14/12/15 19:06 LA9BM JP4ØCN 6 m. CW AUR 896 14/12/15 19:18 LAØBY JO59FW 2 m. CW AUR 784 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 14/12/15 19:38 IK8XFR JM89CJ * 2 m. FSK441 MS 1541 14/12/15 20:02 F6KHM IN78RJ 2 m. SSB MS 1416 14/12/15 20:17 SM2DUX KPØ5AJ * 2 m. FSK441 MS 1395 14/12/15 20:30 SM2CEW KP15CR 2 m. FSK441 MS 1463 14/12/15 21:14 TM7G JNØ3QL 2 m. FSK441 MS 1432 14/12/15 21:21 IW2BNA JN45ON 2 m. FSK441 MS 921 14/12/15 22:26 IK1EGC JN35UF 2 m. FSK441 MS 1002 14/12/15 22:48 IK3MLF JN55WJ 2 m. FSK441 MS 882 14/12/15 23:27 IZ3KGJ JN65IN 2 m. FSK441 MS 854 14/12/15 23:35 S54O JN75NT 2 m. FSK441 MS 822 14/12/15 23:44 YL3HA KO26DW 2 m. FSK441 MS 764 15/12/15 00:07 9A5RJ JN86EL 2 m. FSK441 MS 762 ------------------------------------------------------------------