Wednesday, May 1, 2019

#60m Propagation Survey - Sunday May 5th

Source: hamradioschool.com
A interesting e-mail was send to me by SV1GRN Panos about a propagation survey. Although I don't know exactly what they will do with the information they get from it. They want to test propagation with NVIS antennas and QRP power in the morning greyline and at noon. That's the greyline in Greece of course ;-)
Time difference in Greece is 3 hours ahead of UTC.

Propagation Survey
A call to test the propagation on 60 meters, at noon and while in the grayline, using NVIS antennas and QRP power.

AegeanDXgroup and Athens QRP Net invite you on May 5, 2019 in a meeting on 60 meters to study the propagation on  the frequencies (5351.5 - 5366.5 MHz) of the band.

Duration: 09:00 - 11:00 UTC and 16:00 - 18:00 UTC
Power: QRP not exceeding 5 Watts
Modes: CW (5351.5 – 5354 MHz), SSB(USB) (5354 – 5364 MHz), BPSK31 (5366 - 5366.5 MHz).

Stations can transmit on any or all modes. Please sent Log (in adif, cabrillo, word or excel format)  with real RS(T), QTH locator and Antenna description to: sv8cyr@gmail.com

Participants will receive souvenirs. The participants with top qso’s (independently of modes) will receive commemorative gifts.

It will be interesting to see how many participate outside the usual 5357 MHz FT8 (FT4) digimode frequency...

Update 5-5-2019 9:30: Have been calling QRP with PSK31 and CW. Was spotted by several stations  in Sweden, UK and England according to RBN but only heard a faint signal from DJ8CZ and IK2JET on CW. I didn't even hear signals on 5357 FT8! The strange thing is that I don't see any Greece station spotted at RBN! I give up for now but probabely return at the second part....

Update 9:40: I was just giving up on making any QRP QSO. Then I heard PA5XM Kees calling from near Gouda. We made a nice CW QSO. 60m is really a NVIS band at daylight.

Update 17:55: I was home too late and only 15 minutes before te propagation survey was over. I listened on CW, SSB and PSK31 but didn't see or hear anything. I threw out a few CQs but no one came back. Although I was spotted in Norway and Switzerland.

With only one QSO inside the Netherlands I will not send in my log. I can't imagine they can do something with the information. So far I have the feeling the propagation survey/test was not really a success...

2 comments:

Photon said...

Interesting, but probably of limited value. This data is available pretty much every day, simply by listening and/or transmitting FT8, and without moving off 5.357MHz, although in the UK, operation within the range specified is permitted in USB modes.

PE4BAS, Bas said...

John, personally I don't think there is anything done with the data. It's probabely just a contest in disguise since you can "win" souvenirs. Well, I could be wrong of course....73, Bas