A Recent 6m Band Opening Between Japan and the United States (PSK Reporter)

We’ve been having a good 6m Es Season in the Eastern United States this year. One thing that all of us here in New England look for is a chance to work DX contacts on the 6m Band. We’ve been fortunate to have almost daily openings from our region to Europe, Central, and South America. One 6m DX activity that is very rare is the ability to work stations in Japan via the 6m band from stations here in New England.

Recently, we saw one of the best openings between the United States and Japan that we have encountered here in New England. The image above shows contacts being made on the 6m Band via the FT8 Digital Mode between Japan and the United States on June 18th, 2020 in the evening eastern time.

So Close – Japan Opening to New England on 6m (PSK Reporter)

The pattern of 6m Es openings between Japan and the United States, not surprisingly, typically begins with West Coast and Midwest Stations and works eastward. We’ve been seeing these openings progress to include stations in the Southeastern United States recently on a regular basis. We monitor PSK Reporter and we use our station in receive-only mode to monitor the progress of 6m openings to Japan when they occur.

As you can see from the image above, the 6m Japan opening on June 18th progressed tantalizingly close to our QTH here in New Hampshire. This is one of the best openings to Japan into the Northeast region that we have seen to date.

Unfortunately, this particular 6m opening did not quite make it to our location here in New Hampshire. Perhaps we will see another, better opening before the end of this Es Season.

Fred, AB1OC