[VHFcontesting] How Good was 6 Meters in the 2006 June Contest?

[curtis roseman]

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