11th November 1989
08:30 entered the shack as usual with coffee mug in one hand a pile of direct
QSL cards just freshly pushed through the letterbox in the other. Huge numbers
of QSL's is one of the snags when you live in a reasonably rare grid square
(IO65), and especially so if it's also in a new country for most six metre
DX stations.
At the beginning of solar cycle 22 there were only a handful of 50 Mhz operators
active in GI (Northern Ireland), and of these only a couple were set-up and
DX capable. As GI8YDZ in 1989 I was in the happy position to be one of them.
The most important thing to being successful in six-metre DXing, is the ability
of being close to the shack at all times !
Unlike most other amateur bands, 50 Mhz can never be taken for granted, the
only way to get ahead on the band is by listening to an awful lot of white noise.
Just when you are about to give up and turn the receiver off, it can spring
to life, and usually with very little warning.
Ohh well, back to the description of an average day, the first thing to do
is check the TV video carriers.
One of the most useful propagation indicators for 50 Mhz, next to the amateur
beacon network, is the worldwide Band 1 television transmitters. If there was
an opening brewing, this is the part of the spectrum (46 - 49 Mhz) most likely
to produce signals first.
08:35 the 48.250 and 49.750 video plus offsets are very strong (40-50 db over
S9) with a QTF (heading) of 120° - 90°. The next thing to do is check for
the Cyprus beacon 5B4CY on 50.499; sure enough this is producing good signals
up to 599.
Having established the band was open, and retuning the receiver to 50.110
Adrian, ZC4MK was calling CQ DX. A quick call and QSY up the band clear of the
calling frequency, resulted in yet another pleasant contact with Cyprus. Notes:
The path between N.Ireland and Cyprus at 2373 miles is an almost optimum (2500
miles) distance, for single hop F2 propagation.
In 1989 there was a lack of countries able to transmit on SIX in the Eastern
Mediterranean Region. Therefore quite a bit of cross-band 28 Mhz - 50 Mhz operating
took place.
On tuning the HF receiver to 28.885 (the 6 metre liaison frequency), Ralph 4X1IF
had just announced that he was listening on 50.105. A quick swig of the now,
almost cold coffee, and a call on 50.105 got Ralph's attention and a 559 report
to boot. That was usually the height of the activity from the Middle East apart
from one or two 5B4 stations.
10:00 band is still full of video, but no amateur activity. Constant checking
in the direction of VK and the Far East produced no results. Mid November is
a bit late in the season for Australia, as most previous QSO's have taken place
in October and February.
10:30 a chat with a local GI4OPH, exchange log details and generally try to
predict what the band is planning for us in the coming hours! 10:35 Beaming
South toward West Africa now, unusual, no one about. The lack of beacons in
this part of the world in 1989 didn't help.
11:00 now with the antenna Westward, the band has started to become very noisy (rough sounding), start to hear some weak G and European stations via back scatter, peaking at 225°.
11:38 Signals continue to build, then PZ1AP (GJ25) pops up on .110 and we exchange 59. Next in log is DL3ZM/YV5, I move up the band and at 12:30 (old faithful) Rick, K1JRW (sadly now a silent key) calls in to wish me a good morning. Another few minutes brings rock crushing signals form Ted, HC5K another regular, a few more Hc's then I'm called by VE1YX (seems to be a daily ritual!). Some more VE and W begins, AA2U starts the ball rolling, then TI2KD stops by, a few more W's and I exchange 59 with KP4EIT again!! Its now
13:17 after a quick look around, I managed to break the pile-up on 50.111 to work ZF1RC for a new country. HP3XUH is worked at 55 another new one. Back from lunch and I try to find a clear frequency to start calling CQ.
13:47 mainly working a large pileup of US East coast stations.
14:00 and stateside has really woken up now, the band sounds like a contest weekend on 20M !
14:22 the path lengthens and the W4 and 5's are now pounding in. As the afternoon progresses the propagation heads out towards the mid west, call areas 9 and 0 get their turn, then K7KV in CN87 best DX of the day.
17:47 band is getting quiet now only one or two signals to be heard, VE1YX calls to say good evening and to look for each other tomorrow!
18:00 North American propagation all gone now, exchange the days happening with Callum, GM0EWX, we seem to be the last two stations in Western Europe to have 50 Mhz signals, the G's and Europeans having long since lost propagation. Might be different in the next cycle (23), now the Spanish have 50 Mhz.
Just a few lines short of six pages in an RSGB paper logbook, (no computer logging in those days). Almost 150 QSO's in 11countries, 1 cross-band, and 2 all time new ones, a pretty average day in cycle 22. Now you can see where all the QSL 's came from.
Time to have a rest and prepare for it all again tomorrow!! I hope this little insight will be of some interest to the new SIX metre operators eagerly waiting their first F2 season.
Have fun and enjoy the 'Magic Band' Alan, GI0OTC