An European VK8's summer

VK8AW, Gary.

 Our 1st opening on the 22nd June 2013 was a big surprise (here you can read the 1st article on Sixitalia). Unlike the previous mid-May opening, this one was completely different! No 49 MHz TV was heard from China/Russia, and only a weak 48.250.250 MHZ from Dubai was noted. The opening exhibited Sparodic E type properties, good clean signals with no distortion or shifting in frequency. There was fading, but it was slow and predicable. Most stations were between S1 - S5:

22/06/13    1104Z 6 MTRS      CW    UK8FF       UZBEKISTAN
22/06/13    1108Z 6 MTRS      CW    UR5QU       UKRAINE
22/06/13    1113Z 6 MTRS      CW    UR5MID      UKRAINE
22/06/13    1118Z 6 MTRS      CW    LZ2WO       BULGARIA
22/06/13    1120Z 6 MTRS      CW    US4EX       UKRAINE
22/06/13    1122Z 6 MTRS      CW    UT9FJ       UKRAINE
22/06/13    1124Z 6 MTRS      CW    UX0UN       UKRAINE
22/06/13    1125Z 6 MTRS      CW    LZ1QI       BULGARIA
22/06/13    1127Z 6 MTRS      CW    UT7QF       UKRAINE
22/06/13    1130Z 6 MTRS      CW    YO3DDZ      ROMANIA
22/06/13    1131Z 6 MTRS      CW    UT4EEH      UKRAINE
22/06/13    1132Z 6 MTRS      CW    YO3JR       ROMANIA

On the 24th June 2013, our 2nd opening occurred. Again, this opening exhibited the same properties - Sparodic E, no distortion of signals and slow fading. Also, no 49 MHz TV was heard from china/Russia. There was a weak 48.239 MHZ from Iran prior to the opening. Most stations were S2 – S7:
24/06/13    1107Z 6 MTRS      CW    LZ1QI       BULGARIA
24/06/13    1130z 6 MTRS      CW    SV2DCD      GREECE
24/06/13    1131Z 6 MTRS      CW    I4EAT       ITALY
24/06/13    1134Z 6 MTRS      CW    LZ1UQ       BULGARIA
24/06/13    1140Z 6 MTRS      CW    SV8CS       GREECE
24/06/13    1142Z 6 MTRS      CW    IK4WMA      ITALY
24/06/13    1145Z 6 MTRS      CW    S57BVM      SLOVENIA
24/06/13    1146Z 6 MTRS      CW    I7CSB MIKE  ITALY
24/06/13    1150Z 6 MTRS      CW    HA5CW       HUNGARY
24/06/13    1151Z 6 MTRS      CW    IZ8MWG      ITALY
24/06/13    1152Z 6 MTRS      CW    HA5FW       HUNGARY
24/06/13    1153Z 6 MTRS      CW    IW0FFK      ITALY
24/06/13    1154Z 6 MTRS      CW    SV8RX       GREECE
24/06/13    1155Z 6 MTRS      CW    I4MKN       ITALY
24/06/13    1156Z 6 MTRS      CW    IK0FTA      ITALY
24/06/13    1157Z 6 MTRS      CW    IW0GBU      ITALY
24/06/13    1206Z 6 MTRS      CW    IK4GME      ITALY
24/06/13    1209Z 6 MTRS      CW    I0EKY       ITALY
24/06/13    1210Z 6 MTRS      CW    IK0MS       ITALY
24/06/13    1215Z 6 MTRS      CW    IZ0DZM      ITALY
24/06/13    1224Z 6 MTRS      CW    IZ7SE       ITALY
24/06/13    1235Z 6 MTRS      CW    I6WJB       ITALY
24/06/13    1240Z 6 MTRS      CW    IZ7FLS      ITALY
24/06/13    1244Z 6 MTRS      CW    SV2CXW      GREECE
24/06/13    1250Z 6 MTRS      CW    I2WDX       ITALY
 Tonight the 25th June 2013, our 3rd opening occurred. This opening exhibited the same Sparodic E conditions, but this time Iran on 48.239600 MHZ and 48.252 MHZ, was very loud (S9 plus) during the opening.
25/06/13    1111Z 6 MTRS      CW    UT5URW            UKRAINE
 This was the only contact logged prior to the 48 MHZ indicators disappearing L
 I hope these contacts highlight that 50MHz experiences many different modes of propagation at various times of the year/solar cycle, and you never truly know how far your signal will go!

Gary - VK8AW / VK4ABW

INFO:  http://www.sixitalia.org/jv10/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1&lang=en