It's incredible that in times of low or even no sunspots and at the depth of the solarcycle the 60m band is full of DX. Not only in wintertime but even in summer.
For instance PG0DX spots ZL2CC almost every morning, ZL from PA is max. DX and it is no doubt always longpath propagation. When I
started operating on 60m in 2015 I had never thought this would be my DX band for the next years. Especially the activity and DX is booming now 4 years later. I've not yet counted the total DXCC I have worked on 60m. But this year only I was able to work 40 new 60m band DXCC, see the huge list on the right side of my blog site. Most of the DX is worked in FT8, however 7X5FG from Algeria is a exception. I saw his call spotted over the last week but till yesterday evening I was not able to catch his signal. I checked out his almost steady 5.352 CW signal every evening and now suddenly I hear/saw him making contacts without being spotted on the cluster. So, I took my chance and was able to get into the log. I hear/see some more CW on 60m lately....is the FT8 hype over? It might be time I continue my struggle to learn CW again...
It is well worth to look at
7X5FG's QRZ page by the way. He has made a very nice 6-band 2 element delta loop antenna from which he made some detailed photos.
Congrats on the new 60m DXCC! He was also my new one on that band :) Power limitation in our country makes it natural to use high-gain modes like FT8 on 5MHz, but in case a DX likes CW, you've got to stick to it. I had a pleasure to have a quite longish CW contact with all the kindness, real report and best wishes included, all serving as a CW rust-remover for me :) Since 7X can do 60m, I believe they will eventually be present on FT8 making it possible for further or weaker stations to grab a QSO.
ReplyDeleteHello Pablos, Moh does handle QSO's very well. I've been monitoring him for a while. I think he is strictly a CW operator. Thanks for your comment. 73, Bas
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