630m Crossband Summary

As in previous events, last night's activity was both exciting and successful. From out west here however, things got off to a very slow start and it took some time for conditions to 'cooperate'.

My take on last night's odd conditions may or may not be correct but it seemed that the skip zone on both HF and on 630m was unusually 'long', right from sunset. I have noted similar conditions on the broadcast band, when conditions favor the trans-Atlantic skip regions. I suspect that the skip was towards the eastern regions of Canada where there is sparse activity or, more likely, somewhere further out in the Atlantic regions.

Long conditions like this make it almost impossible to hear closer in stations on HF, such as those up and down the coast or in nearby states, while shutting out most North American reception on 630m. There was also strong evidence that the bands had gone unusually long, when Steve, AA7U, a veteran LW / MW DXer in Arizona, reported early in the evening that he was hearing good signals from Morocco and Algeria on LW ... most unusual from out west!

Western 630m stations worked nothing out of the local region for several hours and the more 'usual' contacts with Oregon, Montana and California were absent altogether ... until around 0500Z when Eric, NO3M in Pennsylvania, replied to one of my 473 kHz CW CQ's on 80m. We quickly exchanged reports and as the long skip began to shorten, Eric went on to work my remaining three VE7 neighbours ... a first for him!

At 0600Z, Eric called me again to give me a 589 report, indicating how quickly the band had improved. With the shrinking skip-zone now moving west, stations in the midwest (WI, MN, IA and CA) were easily worked as the band shortened-up. It's a pity that more eastern stations didn't stay up later, as the band really did not fully cooperate until it was well past bedtime for most regions to the east.

Back east, both Joe, VO1NA on the 'rock' and Mitch, VE3OT in London, Ontario, had good nights, with Joe having a nice crossband CW contact with PE5T in the Netherlands who later reversed roles and worked Frank, VO1HP, who was transmitting on 80m but listening to PE5T on 630m CW! Hopefully this exchange will encourage more two-way trans-Atlantic in-band CW work between Eastern Canada and Europe as there are now numerous European countries with 630m band privileges.

Here is a brief logbook summary for the various Canadian crossbanders.

VO1NA:
VO1AKA, N1BUG, PE5T, VO1DI, VO1HP, W3LPL

VE7SL:
VE7BGJ, VE7BDQ, K7CW, VE7CNF, VA7DXX, VA7MM, AH6EZ/W7, VA7JX, W7GKF, VE7PS,  NO3M, VE7CEK, W0YSE, WA9ETW, KB5NJD, KB7N, K6GZ, W0LS, KG0VL

VA7MM:
KB7N, W7AMD, K7CW, KG0VL, VE7BDQ, VA7JX, VA7DXX, AH6EZ/W7, W7GKF, VE7PS, NO3M, VE7CNF, K6GZ, W0YSE

VE7CNF:

AH6EZ/W7, K7CW, KB7N, KG0VL, W0YSE, K6GZ, KR5D, NO3M, VA7JX, VE7BGJ, VE7PS, W7GKF, VA7MM, VE7BDQ

VE3OT:
N1BUG (ME), K1RGO (CT),  NF4C (NC), W3LPL (MD), KC8BW (MI), W8ICN (MI), K4SAV (AL), K2OS (NY), N4NTO (NC), WA9ETW (WI), W2JEK  (NJ), W1JA (MA), N9UA (WI), VA3SC (ON), VE3IQB (ON), WZ9B (IL), WD8DSB (IN), NO3M (PA), NK8X (MI), W0JW (IA), K1QQ (NH)
 

VE7BDQ:
VE7KW, VE7BGJ, AH6EX/W7, W7GKF, K7CW, VA7MM, VA7JX, NO3M, VE7PS, KB7N,VE7CNF, K6GZ, VE7SL


For a summary of N1BUG's activity from Maine, along with some recordings, visit Paul's posting here.

I would like to express my thanks to all of those that participated, including the U.S. experimental stations,  either by sending reports or by being on the air to provide two-way activity ... without your interest and taking the time to prepare your station's capability, events such as this would never get off the ground!

Hopefully by this time next year, a 630m ham band will be a reality in the U.S.A. and that we will all be able to work each other directly on 630m! It is also hoped that this weekend's activity will encourage more Canadian amateurs to give 630m a closer look ... we are extremely lucky to have this small segment of the spectrum available to us and are quickly learning of its potential to support superb groundwave communications as well as offering exciting DX possibilities.

For an even more in-depth summary of this weekend's event, please visit KB5NJD's blog summary here.

For more help in building your own 630m station, see KB5NJD's 'Instructional Topics' pages as well as on my own 630m blogspots here. Together, these two sources will provide you with weeks of thought-provoking bedtime reading!

Thanks again, for your participation.