Heard that there is a website where you can check the latest band openings, basically it's a map with lines showing recent contacts among hams. Looked around but found nothing so far. Anyone out there have info? Thanks.
Website for Monitoring 6m Band Openings
- Thread starter spongella
- Start date
- Status
Googling "6m band openings" came up with this.
QSO/SWL real time maps and lists
https://n3tuq.com/dxmap.php
QSO/SWL real time maps and lists
https://n3tuq.com/dxmap.php
cessna_172
Member
It's already been referenced above but dxmaps is about the best I have found.
QSO/SWL real time maps and lists
QSO/SWL real time maps and lists
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 15, 2014
- Messages
- 101
Everyone hangs out here a lot. The 50Mhz IARU Region 2 Chat.
The low band, VHF, UHF and microwave chats (by ON4KST)
The low band, VHF, UHF and microwave chats (by ON4KST)
This site shows active 6 metre beacons in the US and V/UHF beacons worldwide. Stations reports are in real time....... its an interesting study as to where beacons are being heard, especially on 6.
.
BTW, and I haven't checked on it in years, but there was a US 10 metre net on 28.880 that used to become active during skip season,-- co-ordinating DX contacts and such for Six activity. Am I dating myself here ???...lol
.
.
VHF/UHF Beacon List and Microwave Beacon List - Beaconspot.eu
.
.
.................................................CF
.
BTW, and I haven't checked on it in years, but there was a US 10 metre net on 28.880 that used to become active during skip season,-- co-ordinating DX contacts and such for Six activity. Am I dating myself here ???...lol
.
.
VHF/UHF Beacon List and Microwave Beacon List - Beaconspot.eu
.
.
.................................................CF
Last edited:
majoco
Stirrer
There's not a lot of point in using the web to find that someone else has heard a 6m beacon somewhere. What they hear from their location may not necessarily be heard by you and vice versa. Best thing to do is carry out your own listening schedules on beacons around the world and work out your own propagation strategies. Here's a few pointers to 6m beacons around the world...
6 Meters Beacons - DX Resources: Beacons: 6 meters beacons
6 Meters Beacons - DX Resources: Beacons: 6 meters beacons
Not meaning to swerve the subject, but Beacons are an interesting, if not unsung facet of ham radio.
.
My father was into them quite a few years ago- back in the days of the great Trans-Atlantic 2 metre attempts (are people still trying this?)
.
I would tease him:
.
"Dad, you are NOT Marconi"
.
He was retired by then, and, having plenty of time for his hobby, took up the challenge. And that is just what it was too, -- a Challenge - in Ace's.
.
The FCC regulations for unattend'd beacons restrict them to certain small segments of the V/UHF bands, and no more than 100 watts.
.
"You are not going to get THAT across the Atlantic" I would chided him....
.
...which he knew. So with a couple of "G" friends in the UK, they set up schedules in the CW portion of the 2 metre band, taking turns running high power* at each other for days on end, during the E and Tropo seasons one year. Results?--
.
Nada, Rien, Nichts.........no matter the spelling- it still was Big Nothing. Of course if they had been successful the "ham" world would have heard about it.
.
"The physics are all against you" I'd say "unless you are extremely lucky"
.
But that project went on for quite some time, despite all the comments from his snotty daughter.
.
.
______________________________________________
.
A few years later, I was working on a long term project in the Pacific. He, bless his heart, sent me a homebrew'd 50 Mhz beacon programm'd with my KC6 call (now T8.) I set that up; it ran continously all of a summer- 15W into a small beam (which was also sent along)- pointing NW- and for the effort I received a glorious collect of QSL-SWL reports form all over the Pacific Rim... JA's by the dozens, YB's, HL's, BV's--- to name a few. I gave them to my father as a Thank You.
.
..........................CF
.
.
_____________________________________________
* .......his end was 1KW from a pair of 4CX250's into a phased array of 13 element beams, on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay- azimuth: London. I design'd the phasing for him but want'd no more to do with the "Folly"..ahhhh...."Project. "
.
.
.
.
My father was into them quite a few years ago- back in the days of the great Trans-Atlantic 2 metre attempts (are people still trying this?)
.
I would tease him:
.
"Dad, you are NOT Marconi"
.
He was retired by then, and, having plenty of time for his hobby, took up the challenge. And that is just what it was too, -- a Challenge - in Ace's.
.
The FCC regulations for unattend'd beacons restrict them to certain small segments of the V/UHF bands, and no more than 100 watts.
.
"You are not going to get THAT across the Atlantic" I would chided him....
.
...which he knew. So with a couple of "G" friends in the UK, they set up schedules in the CW portion of the 2 metre band, taking turns running high power* at each other for days on end, during the E and Tropo seasons one year. Results?--
.
Nada, Rien, Nichts.........no matter the spelling- it still was Big Nothing. Of course if they had been successful the "ham" world would have heard about it.
.
"The physics are all against you" I'd say "unless you are extremely lucky"
.
But that project went on for quite some time, despite all the comments from his snotty daughter.
.
.
______________________________________________
.
A few years later, I was working on a long term project in the Pacific. He, bless his heart, sent me a homebrew'd 50 Mhz beacon programm'd with my KC6 call (now T8.) I set that up; it ran continously all of a summer- 15W into a small beam (which was also sent along)- pointing NW- and for the effort I received a glorious collect of QSL-SWL reports form all over the Pacific Rim... JA's by the dozens, YB's, HL's, BV's--- to name a few. I gave them to my father as a Thank You.
.
..........................CF
.
.
_____________________________________________
* .......his end was 1KW from a pair of 4CX250's into a phased array of 13 element beams, on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay- azimuth: London. I design'd the phasing for him but want'd no more to do with the "Folly"..ahhhh...."Project. "
.
.
.
Last edited:
I mostly use the dxzone.com web page when I'm sitting in front of my computer. (I support this site with a yearly donation). But, I also have an app on my iPhone called iCluster: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icluster-the-dx-cluster-database/id334053435?mt=8
The app lets you set alarms which provide an alert when a certain station is spotted on the cluster. I have two 6M beacons near me. I set the app to alert me if someone spots one of these beacons. If the spotter is hearing the nearby beacon, then logically, the conditions should be reciprocal.
When I hear an alarm and I'm not doing anything, I can sit down at the radio and usually start making contacts.
The app lets you set alarms which provide an alert when a certain station is spotted on the cluster. I have two 6M beacons near me. I set the app to alert me if someone spots one of these beacons. If the spotter is hearing the nearby beacon, then logically, the conditions should be reciprocal.
When I hear an alarm and I'm not doing anything, I can sit down at the radio and usually start making contacts.
There are a large number of 6 and 2 meter beacons scattered around, and a lesser number up into the higher bands, as high as 24 GHz.
Of particular interest are the beacons in Hawaii that are used to detect openings to California on the VHF/UHF bands. There is even a 10 GHz beacon for that, since that path has been spanned on every band up to and including 5.7 GHz.
There was once even talk about trying to put a beacon on Kwajalein aimed at California because of anecdotes of accidental troposcatter contacts made by the military, indicating the possibility of occasional duct paths.
Beacons are a fascinating aspect of amateur radio, and are fun to search for or figure out when you hear one.
Oh Wow, ZZ-
.
When you mention'd Kwaj, that evoked all sorts of memories....! I'll stick to the the radio's....
.
Oh, and do I know Kwajalein !
.
I am not sure that a beacon there could be heard in the US via Tropo- but certainly F layer skip should, should those days ever return.... (maybe Double E?)
.
I'll try (hard, lol) not to fly off into my anecdotes, ....But....
.
.
I've spent quite a Lot of time in the Marshalls- not all of it productive to the tax payers. During down moments there was videos, Drambuie and, well, .....keeping it clean- we'll stop at Ham Radio...
.
I used to take along my Icom 575 (a 26-55Mhz- "hacked" transceiver) off to the remote atolls. With that beam, mentioned above- I had a blast talking to tonnes of Pacific Rim stations on 6 and 10.
.
There were plenty of evenings when I was on an isolated tour to atolls like Enewetok-( ~400 miles NW of Kwaj,) that, after the Six closed for E,(and double E) - skip, the evening atmosphere kick'd over to Tropo, and I could talk for what seemed like hours to my friend "Barbi"** on Kwaj--- <20 Watts on both sides. That equatorial Tropo is something ! (double !!'s, )-- though I doubt it is possible to do it from the Central Pacific to the US at amateur power levels.
.
Sorry, if I took this topic really out there, ( I did, didn't I, Guys ?).. maybe it was the dinner wine.............
.
.
...........................................CF
.
.
_____________________________________________
.
**we were both sporting KX6 calls then-- V73's now............
.
.
When you mention'd Kwaj, that evoked all sorts of memories....!
I'll stick to the the radio's.... .
Oh, and do I know Kwajalein !
.
I am not sure that a beacon there could be heard in the US via Tropo- but certainly F layer skip should, should those days ever return.... (maybe Double E?)
.
I'll try (hard, lol) not to fly off into my anecdotes, ....But....
.
.
I've spent quite a Lot of time in the Marshalls- not all of it productive to the tax payers. During down moments there was videos, Drambuie and, well, .....keeping it clean- we'll stop at Ham Radio...
.
I used to take along my Icom 575 (a 26-55Mhz- "hacked" transceiver) off to the remote atolls. With that beam, mentioned above- I had a blast talking to tonnes of Pacific Rim stations on 6 and 10.
.
There were plenty of evenings when I was on an isolated tour to atolls like Enewetok-( ~400 miles NW of Kwaj,) that, after the Six closed for E,(and double E) - skip, the evening atmosphere kick'd over to Tropo, and I could talk for what seemed like hours to my friend "Barbi"** on Kwaj--- <20 Watts on both sides. That equatorial Tropo is something ! (double !!'s, )-- though I doubt it is possible to do it from the Central Pacific to the US at amateur power levels.
.
Sorry, if I took this topic really out there, ( I did, didn't I, Guys ?).. maybe it was the dinner wine.............
.
.
...........................................CF
.
.
_____________________________________________
.
**we were both sporting KX6 calls then-- V73's now............
.
Oh Wow, ZZ-
.
When you mention'd Kwaj, that evoked all sorts of memories....!
.
Oh, and do I know Kwajalein !
I figured you did. Never been there myself, but among the circles I run around in, I know plenty who have.
I'm not talking F layer frequencies. I'm talking 2-10 GHz! There are folks out there who think it could happen. Hawaii to California has been spanned on ALL amateur frequencies up to and including 5 GHz.
You have some interesting stories, but we've already hijacked the thread bad enough.
I've spent quite a Lot of time in the Marshalls- not all of it productive to the tax payers. During down moments there was videos, Drambuie and, well, .....keeping it clean- we'll stop at Ham Radio...
There's got to be SOME benefit to being sent to some Pacific Island paradise with no smog and no traffic and... oh, wait.
There's a rig I haven't heard of in a long time. 6 and 10 meters, interesting combination. Interesting bands...
HT to HT California to Hawaii... it's been done.
Paul in Hawaii is an SK now, so the amateur community lost the major player on that end, but the beacons are still there, still running. There's been indications in the past that the duct can exist between Hawaii and Kwaj, possibly at the same time as to California. A few high performance beacons on Kwajalein would be pretty valuable. I know people who could build them, I just don't know anyone who could get one deployed there anymore. Oh well...
Sorry, if I took this topic really out there, ( I did, didn't I, Guys ?).. maybe it was the dinner wine.............
Yeah, kinda out in left field there, but interesting nevertheless.
I too, fear hijacking this topic into beacons and exotic propagation modes- but in a loose way it does kind'a fit... sort of.
.
I revisited some of the things I read about W6NLZ and KH6UK; their trans-Pacific contacts in the late '50's.. it caught my imagination as a teenager- though long before my time. I've attached a link to an article that may be of interest.
.
Microwave DX records
.
..... and while I do agree that Tropo ducting to the States from the Central Pacific is technically possible, there is one major obstacle.... getting the altitude necessary to place the signal into the duct. On Kwaj the highest point is "Mount Everest" (or at least that is what we call'd it)- a hill on the west end of the island ~80 feet, max, above sea level. The successful experiments between Hawaii and California took place at height's in the thousands.
.
..............Not saying it can't be done... I have experienced some really bizarre propagation's out there...............hmmmmmm, now I'm curious what and how the Navy experiment'd into this..... Something to look into next week.....
.
.
.................CF
.
.
.
I revisited some of the things I read about W6NLZ and KH6UK; their trans-Pacific contacts in the late '50's.. it caught my imagination as a teenager- though long before my time. I've attached a link to an article that may be of interest.
.
Microwave DX records
.
..... and while I do agree that Tropo ducting to the States from the Central Pacific is technically possible, there is one major obstacle.... getting the altitude necessary to place the signal into the duct. On Kwaj the highest point is "Mount Everest" (or at least that is what we call'd it)- a hill on the west end of the island ~80 feet, max, above sea level. The successful experiments between Hawaii and California took place at height's in the thousands.
.
..............Not saying it can't be done... I have experienced some really bizarre propagation's out there...............hmmmmmm, now I'm curious what and how the Navy experiment'd into this..... Something to look into next week.....
.
.
.................CF
.
.
The subject probably deserves it's own thread.
That's a pretty interesting story. The author is relatively local to me, and I'm quite familiar with that particular operation.
Yep. It's currently believed that the duct usually settles in to near sea level at the California end, and passes through about 8000 at the Hawaii end. I'm not aware of any attempts to try it from sea-level on Hawaii, but in talking to the KH6 guys, they've observed that it's quite possible to go either too high or too low on Mauna Loa and end up outside the duct. What it does toward Kwaj is unknown.
Yep, and that right there might be the thing that kills it. But it should be tried!
Yeah, I'd love to know what's behind the Calif-Kwaj tropo anecdotes, especially if there's any truth to them.
I've done some really long haul tropo contacts on some of the upper bands, and in some cases, the margin was 10's of db's higher than threshold, indicating it could have gone much further if there was someone out there to hear it.
Getting back to the ORIGINAL subject, the OP might check out this for propagation information:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/
So, start one.
- Status
