At the beginning of June, I had 95 DXCC worked on 50Mhz (6 metres), of which 89 were confirmed. I am delighted to now report that I have reached 100 confirmations on the band and therefore have achieved the much-sought-after 100 DX entites confirmed via Logbook of the World.
On 1st June, I took down my storm-damaged hexbeam and erected in its place my old three-element 6m yagi. I was able to work a rake of new ones (exclusively on FT8) using this beam, but a couple of weeks ago I upgraded to a five-element LFA with folded driven element which I was very kindly offered on loan by Declan EI9HQ.
Last night, I logged HK3PJ, my first contact into Colombia on 6 metres, and my 109th DX entity logged.
Here's a quick list of all the new ones I have worked since 1st June:
7X2RF Algeria, worked on 1st June. DXCC #96 on 6m.
A61DD United Arab Emirates. Worked 3rd June. DXCC #97. Confirmed on LoTW.
HZ1SK Saudi Arabia. Worked 3rd June. DXCC #98. Confirmed on LoTW.
HC1BI Ecuador. Worked 3rd June. DXCC #99.
P43A Aruba. Worked 5th June. DXCC #100 worked - a landmark day!
A71AE Qatar. Worked 8th June. DXCC #101. Confirmed on LoTW.
OD5KU Lebanon. Worked 8th June. DXCC #102. Confirmed on LoTW.
5T5PA Mauritania. Worked 11th June. DXCC #103. Confirmed on LoTW.
J69DS St Lucia. Worked 14th June. DXCC #104. Confirmed on LoTW.
5el LFA yagi erected 16th June 2021.
XE1KK Mexico. Worked 18th June. DXCC #105. Confirmed via LoTW.
5Z4VJ Kenya. Worked 20th June. DXCC #106. Confirmed via LoTW.
TZ4AM Mali. Worked 20th June. DXCC #107.
OX3LX Greenland. Worked 24th June. DXCC #108. Confirmed via LoTW.
HK3PJ Colombia. Worked 26th June. DXCC #109. Confirmed via LoTW.
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| HK3PJ from Colombia, my 109th DXCC worked and 100th confirmed on 6m. |
I am extremely grateful to my fellow EI dxers who prompted some of these QSOs by alerting me to their presence on the band. There is a wonderful community of hams here and most are extremely helpful to other hams.
I began operating on 6 metres in the summer of 2010 using just a fixed dipole with no rotation. I was active for several summers until around 2015, with a 3el yagi, by which time I had worked around 90 DXCC. I was inactive for a while before grabbing some more new ones in 2018 with my six-band hexbeam which had two elements for 6m. After that antenna was badly damaged by a storm, I eventually removed it and re-erected the 3el beam on 1st June this year, and that's when the new ones started to roll in.
Some of the DX stations worked above appeared only for a few minutes, while others such as 5T5PA have been seen regularly. That's the magic band!
Today, I am proud to be able to say I have worked and confirmed DXCC on NINE bands (80m through 6m), all via LoTW as I do not send out QSL cards except in reply to those sent to me.
Now for the next challenge! Is it possible to get DXCC on 160m from a postage-stamp garden, or should I aim for 100 countries on 2m using EME? :D
Congratulations Anthony, a real milestone. It took 11 years and you got some excellent DX on 6m. I might be wrong but I think it is easier to work DX to south america and central america when you live in Ireland. I've seen a few (big) dutch stations trying for HK3PJ yesterday but they didn't make any contact. I didn't see him at all, same for others from that area. I took a view on the KST chat last few days and see 6m is open all the time over there in EI. Unfortunately not here in the Netherlands. Well, I think we have to do some more effort. I'm active on 6m since 2000. And have worked 95 DXCC now. I don't hope it will take another 21 years to get over 100.... Let's hope for some good ES... 73, Bas
ReplyDeletePS: At this moment the only thing I hear on 6m is noise...