Meteors & Northern Lights …

Besides handing out a few QSOs in the ARRL-10M contest last weekend I also spent some time on VHF as the Geminids meteor shower was around. It almost always coincides with the 10 m contest so one can share time between the contest and meteor scatter quite nicely. The shower usually also enhances condx on 10 m, i.e. stimulating some Sporadic-E propagation which unfortunately was not the case this time. Maybe because the meteor peak was only predicted for Monday evening …

I did not expect to add any new squares during the shower as portable activity is usally rather sparse during winter time. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to see Jussi, OH6ZZ, being active from KP13 as OH8K for a few days providing a new one to many. Also nice to catch GM6VXB/P in IO57. Martin’s QRL includes technical duties on Scottish lighthouses so he travels a lot across the islands and always tries to be active on 2 m MS then as time permits. Good catch! 😎 Not any less pleasant but certainly easier from a reachability perspective was working residents EI2KK in IO65, IK8XFR in JM89 and SM2DUX in KP05 for another three new ones. Five in total sure was nothing I would have expected! 🙂

latestMonday evening the band also opened via Aurora. To keep an eye on NOAA’s Aurora forecast always pays off. 😉 Interestingly reflection zones varied broadly between 340 and 30° so I wondered why it did not enable QSOs into more southern regions which is usually the case then. On 6 m I even found 330° best to hear the two GM stations active on SSB Aurora although I did not reach them due to too low power overhere. Although SSB is much easier to copy on 6 m as the auroral distortion is less pronounced then on 2 m it still demands more ERP then CW. Another reason why you *do* need CW to work the real DX on VHF, too. 😉 And generally 2 m always seems much easier on Aurora then 6 m … but that might also be just a simple question of ERP as you usually do have higher gain antennas on the higher bands assuming same available space … simple physics. 😉 The Scottish guys reported visible Aurora at high elevation, too, which matches nicely to the beam headings needed overhere.

After all a few very nice evenings on VHF again … 😎

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 DATE     TIME   CALLSIGN     LOCATOR    BAND   MODE    PRO.   QRB
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12/12/15  22:00  OH8K         KP13FA *   2 m.   FSK441  MS    1193
12/12/15  22:33  GM6VXB/P     IO57RT *   2 m.   FSK441  MS    1513
12/12/15  23:54  UR6EM        KN67RV     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1476
13/12/15  07:03  RO3X         KO73FU     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1336
13/12/15  07:12  LZ2FO/2      KN14KA     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1200
13/12/15  07:35  UT4LA        KN89CW     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1556
13/12/15  07:46  RM1A         KO59BU     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1220
13/12/15  08:02  USØGB        KN67UA     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1543
13/12/15  18:28  ER1AN        KN46KX     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1250
13/12/15  18:35  UT8AL        KO61WP     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1340
13/12/15  22:18  EI2KK        IO65CA *   2 m.   FSK441  MS    1442
13/12/15  22:26  SV6KRV       KMØ9KO     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1592
13/12/15  22:30  LZ5D         KN22UL     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1464
13/12/15  22:37  YU7ON        KNØ4AX     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1006
13/12/15  23:16  EA3AXV       JNØ1TJ     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1613
13/12/15  23:24  F6DRO        JNØ3TJ     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1428
13/12/15  23:49  9A4V         JN95KI     2 m.   FSK441  MS     934
13/12/15  23:54  RU1AA        KO48VR     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1145
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14/12/15  18:19  SMØNKZ       JO99IQ     2 m.   CW      AUR    773
14/12/15  18:23  SM7GVF       JO77GA     2 m.   CW      AUR    427
14/12/15  18:29  SM4IVE       JO79SD     2 m.   CW      AUR    667
14/12/15  18:34  LA6OJ        JO38HH     2 m.   CW      AUR    740
14/12/15  18:38  GM4VVX       IO78TA     2 m.   CW      AUR   1279
14/12/15  18:43  LA3PK        JO59KW     2 m.   CW      AUR    777
14/12/15  18:45  YL2FZ        KO37QI     2 m.   CW      AUR    952
14/12/15  18:48  OH5LK        KP3ØON     2 m.   CW      AUR   1134
14/12/15  18:51  SM4CSK       JO79LG     2 m.   CW      AUR    678
14/12/15  18:53  OH2M         KP21TD     2 m.   CW      AUR   1117
14/12/15  18:57  GM3WOJ       IO77WS     2 m.   CW      AUR   1257
14/12/15  19:04  OZ4VV        JO46QU     6 m.   CW      AUR    511
14/12/15  19:06  LA9BM        JP4ØCN     6 m.   CW      AUR    896
14/12/15  19:18  LAØBY        JO59FW     2 m.   CW      AUR    784
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14/12/15  19:38  IK8XFR       JM89CJ *   2 m.   FSK441  MS    1541
14/12/15  20:02  F6KHM        IN78RJ     2 m.   SSB     MS    1416
14/12/15  20:17  SM2DUX       KPØ5AJ *   2 m.   FSK441  MS    1395
14/12/15  20:30  SM2CEW       KP15CR     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1463
14/12/15  21:14  TM7G         JNØ3QL     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1432
14/12/15  21:21  IW2BNA       JN45ON     2 m.   FSK441  MS     921
14/12/15  22:26  IK1EGC       JN35UF     2 m.   FSK441  MS    1002
14/12/15  22:48  IK3MLF       JN55WJ     2 m.   FSK441  MS     882
14/12/15  23:27  IZ3KGJ       JN65IN     2 m.   FSK441  MS     854
14/12/15  23:35  S54O         JN75NT     2 m.   FSK441  MS     822
14/12/15  23:44  YL3HA        KO26DW     2 m.   FSK441  MS     764
15/12/15  00:07  9A5RJ        JN86EL     2 m.   FSK441  MS     762
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