West Coast Day For 6m

Courtesy DXMAPS.COM

Six meters was open most of yesterday and was still open when I went to bed at around midnight. Many northerly beacons were starting to show up and there were high hopes for the morning.

At 0700 I began to hear bits and pieces of CN8KD in Morocco while he was working 4's and 5's ...every once in a while his CQ's would briefly rise out of the noise but never long enough or loud enough for me to reply. He eventually faded and the band shifted to a more northerly path and at around 0900 local time, EA8DBM (Canary Islands, AF) showed up on SSB, while working into the SE U.S.A. He was much louder further to the south but at 1632z I was able to work him on phone and a few minutes later on CW, down the band. In over 40 years of being on 6m, this was only my second African QSO, with my other one also being into EA8.

The best part of the opening today was the number of west coast stations that were able to put rare Africa into the log....and, for a number of them, it was the completion of WAC on 50MHz....very tough from the left coast. VE7DAY, K7SS and NA6XX will all be celebrating today!

As I post this at 2130z, the KL7's are cashing-in on the magic while working across the U.S. as far south as Florida! I've always thought the first week of July to be the best of the season for 6m...lets hope it keeps going.