Monday, September 21, 2026

#6m #4m ES-season 2026 review

 A small review about the magic band(s) this year. I didn't have much time to monitor all the time and so I probably missed some DX. I know of one evening there was strong propagation to Colombia and Ecuador but although I saw stations with very good signals I was not able to make any QSO. The propagation was widespread across Europe so I was certainly not the only one calling at that moment, sometimes some spotty propagation is better if the spot is right at your QTH. Well, there is always a next time. 

Photo from M0OXO.com
13-May-2026: Quite early in the ES season I worked the first 6m new one this year, XT2AW from Burkina Faso. What can I tell. Signals were reasonable strong and the contact was easy. Working stations on 6m from Africa is always kind of unique.

On the first day of June we had some propagation to South America. June is always the best month for the ES season as far as I know and experienced.



8-Jun-2026: Almost as expected I worked OE3FVU as my only new one on 4m this year. The signal came up, we made the contact and as fast as it appeared it went into the noise again.





20-June-2026: Second new on 6m. This time FS/K9EL from St.Martin. It shows the importance of watching the greyline. Most of my DX has been made at evening greyline including this one.





27-June-2026: A warm day full of good propagation. In the end I managed to work Haïti which was my 3rd and last 6m new one this year. 

Overall there were some DX possibilities but as always it is the magic that has to happen at the time that we are on air.

1 comment:

John AE5X said...

Some nice cards, Bas and it's nice to see XT2AW is still sending out RF after all these years. He was my first station in Africa to ever work...that was in 1979!

73,
John