Hail JT9 for the ultimate DX

Notice the incredible low signal.

New Zealand radioamateurs just have permission to transmit on 60m for 2 weeks now. And since I did read the blog of PA2S Henk, his article made me think about the ultimate DX goal of this year. It had to be done now as long as it is new because when you wait too long the ZL operators are not interested in working Europe anymore. The big challenge is the distance, the low power allowed on both sites (10W in ZL and 15W in PA) and of course the small time frame in the morning when there is a chance of propagation. In the past week radioamateurs in Europe have already made it to New Zealand on both FT8 as JT9, so possible it is. But still it is very difficult and I think JT9 is just the best and most sensitive mode to accomplish the task.

So, last week I was calling......and calling......and calling. Then suddenly ZL4OL popped up in my screen, a few minutes later the QSO was made.

JT9 is just incredible for real DX.

Below a screenshot as proof!

From PA2S I heard that ZL on 60m are longpath contacts since the shortpath is in light and so the D-layer absorption is too high. Over the longpath the distance between me and ZL4OL is 21427.6 km and that makes it extra ultimate DX!

More interesting research on this topic can be found on PA2S Henk his website. Henk is researching propagation and DXing on 60m since we are allowed on 60m in the Netherlands.