[RSM] Magic Band Opening Results

[K0JP]

Well, 6-meters has been almost dead for me in the past two days but this 
week has been amazing.

I won't go into gory details but 23 new states were worked for a total 
of 37, along with 56 new grids (including EN19 courtesy of VE4VT) for a 
total of 78 FFMA grids (easy when you're starting from scratch), but, 
sadly, only one new DXCC (ZF2). I did see a bunch of VE4s active but was 
able to decode only Ed.

Even though almost no DX was heard I was freaked out when 3W1T was 
decoded! It was only once, at -17, but it was real because the west 
coast was working into JA/HL with strong signals and there were posts 
about the Vietnam station on Slack chat at the time it was decoded here.

The vertical dipole,with it's center at a height of 10 meters, worked 
amazingly well, but not well enough for real DX. As a result we have 
ordered an M2 6M5XHP which will be used at both the Karlstad and Kenora 
QTHs and when we go portable to places like EN27 and 28. The antenna is 
relatively small (18-feet long and 13 pounds) and will be set up in 
portable operation configuration wherever we go. It will be a vast 
improvement over what we've been using.

We won't have the M2 antenna until after we return to Karlstad on the 
24th but a 4-element Yagi will be borrowed from VE3JJA for use in the CQ 
WW VHF Contest next weekend.

73,

Jack, VE3RUA/K0JP