Thursday 30 October 2014

CQ Crossband - Final Call - 630m Tomorrow Night






The three VE stations active on 630m CW are looking forward to working you tomorrow (Halloween) evening via the crossband mode during the 630m Activity Night.







In the east, watch for VO1NA. On the west side, watch for VE7BDQ and VE7SL. Here are the transmitting frequencies, times and HF calling frequencies:
  • VO1NA - Joe, in Torbay, Newfoundland. Joe will transmit on 477.7 kHz starting at 2130Z Oct 31 and will continue until 0130Z Nov 1. He will listen for callers on 3562 kHz and 7062 kHz.
  •  VE7BDQ - John, in Delta, B.C. John will transmit on 474.0 kHz starting at 0100Z and will continue until 1000Z on Nov 1. He will listen for callers on 3536 kHz.
  • VE7SL - Steve, on Mayne Island, B.C. I will transmit on 473.0 kHz starting at 0200Z and will continue until 0600Z on Nov 1. I will listen for callers on 3566 kHz and 7066 kHz.
630m propagation conditions have been very good this past week and barring any sudden auroral events, should continue. Unless you are within a few hundred miles of these stations, don't expect signals to be 'loud'. Even when running several hundred watts, antenna's that fit into backyards are not very efficient at radiating all of it! However, from what I have observed, propagation on 630m is very forgiving and has much in common with 160m. Distant signals can sometimes be surprisingly easy to copy when the sun is not up to its tricks!

I have no idea how many stations will be participating on HF but please do not give up should your first few calls not be answered. If conditions appear to be really good, operating hours will probably be extended. Unfortunately Saturday night will probably be out since it is the Sweepstakes CW weekend and will pretty much plug the HF bands, wiping out the calling frequencies.

Don't forget to watch for the Part 5 Experimental stations (WG2's and WD2's) who will be beaconing and working each other on 630m directly. I'm sure they would appreciate your 'heard' reports as well.

Good luck and see you tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

definitly dont try to work tomorrow?
several xe opr will listen for 600 mts. do you know if other ve or w hams will be on air? any tx freq on 600?
tks

Fernando / XE2EJ

Steve McDonald said...

Fernando - the crossband activity was tonight only and just 'VE' stations. 'W' stations do not yet have the 630m band. Tomorrow night is CW Sweepstakes contest which will wipe out most of the HF bands for any crossband attempts.