As many have already noted, on this reflector and elsewhere, Saturday was truly
a big day for six meters in the June contest. To obtain a preliminary measure
of how good six meters was I have compared 2006 high claimed QSO and grid
totals (that I have seen so far) with those from past years. Here is what I
found:
Up until now [in the post 1984 grid-square era] thirteen stations have worked
at least 1000 QSOs on 6 meters, nine from Texas, and two each from New Mexico
and Colorado. At least two were added this year: K9NS in Illinois (1282 Qs)
and K9MU in Wisconsin (1108 Qs). 1000-plus QSO totals by year: 1996 (2);
1998 (6); 1999 (1); 2000 (2); 2003 (2).
Ten stations had worked between 950 and 999 Qs in the past; at least two were
added this year, K1TOL in Maine (989) and K5AM in New Mexico (954).
Some pretty high grid totals were racked-up this year too, but only one
reported so far in the top echelon: The 258 grids claimed by K9NS will tie for
the eleventh all-time high total. At least ten stations worked over 200 grids
this year, from a variety of locations, including Maine, Delaware, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.
I have the historical high QSO and grid totals in an Excel file that I would be
happy to send to anybody who is interested. These data suggest that the overall
biggest years on six (in the grid square era) were: 1987, 1992, 1996, 1998,
2000, 2003, and now 2006. (I also have records from the pre-grid-square era
that would show some spectacular June contests on six before 1985.)
This year I operated single op portable (QRP) in southwest Michigan, and almost
got VUCC (98 grids) on six running ten watts to a 5-element beam 7 feet off the
ground. Most of those grids were worked on Saturday. The openings were good
for me because they were geographically widespread, allowing me to maximize the
number of grids worked. [The name of the game in a multi-band QRP operation is
to work as many grids as possible on 6; spend time getting QSOs on the higher
bands where they count more.] I worked lots of relatively short skip, to grids
such as EN93, EM58, and EN21 (consistent with the 2 meter Es that was going
over my head). Also, at one time or another, the band was open wide areas in
New England, the South, and the West. So I was able to steadily pick-off new
grids, by searching and pouncing (along with some begging).
Sunday was relatively quiet on six, although I did manage twelve new grids that
day. The good news is that this allowed us to spend most of the time on the
higher bands, which were nearly empty on Saturday because of the six-meter
openings.
Another fun contest.
73, Curt Roseman k9aks
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|