Hi guys,
The other day there was a fantastic band opening, I hope it's the first of many more to come. NJ is famous for coastal tropo ducting, under good conditions we hear the whole Eastern Seaboard and into the Carribean. Sometimes on VHF, sometimes on UHF and sometimes both, it is selective sometimes and sometimes not.
For what it's worth, try FM broadcast and TV DXing, those bands open not only for tropo but sporadic E propagation as well. My best TV so far was channel 4 from the Carribean coming in like a local. Got that one on tape, ironically the CE was giving some kids a tour of the transmitter facility at the time. Of course UHF opens too and often better than VHF. I'll give you a clue, if you want a QSL write to the general manager to forward to the CE. Today he's in charge of the whole broadcast group rather than babysitting one transmitter all day.
As a radio ham I enjoy working DX on 6M, 2M, 1.25M and 70cM but it's been rather so-so the past couple of years. I hope this will be a good year for a change, turn off the PL, listen and have fun with stations you don't often hear.