First EI 6 Metre DXCC - ( EI7GL )

Are you interested in getting DXCC on 50 MHz? A word of warning.....its not easy!! It took me over 10 years on the band to get the required 100 plus countries. My progress over the 10 years is shown below and may give you an idea of how difficult it is to get DXCC on 6 Metres.

Date - Summer 1990

Back in 1990, things were very different from what they are today. 50 MHz was then a new band in Europe. There were very few HF+6m rigs or 6m only rigs on the market. For many operators back then, the alternative route was to use a transverter.
So, not having a 6m rig, I decided to build a 2 metre to 6 metre transverter. I used the PW Meon design from Practical Wireless and I built it during the Summer of 1990. So, on the 16th of September 1990, after qsying from 144 MHz and using just 250 milliwatts into an indoor dipole antenna, the first station in the log was Charles, EI5FK .

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
001	16/09/1990	EI5FK	Rep. of Ireland

Year - 1991

During the winter of 1990/91, I built a small little amplifier that gave me 4 watts output. High Power at last!! Things really started to roll when the Sporadic-E season started in May. New Countries worked were..........

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
002	04/05/1991	FC1JUC	France
003	04/05/1991	I5FLN	Italy
004	08/05/1991	DJ6EA	Germany
005	14/05/1991	ZB0X	Gibraltar
006	20/05/1991	SM0KCR	Sweden
007	20/05/1991	OH3MF	Finland
008	01/06/1991	OE2CAL	Austria
009	01/06/1991	OZ1IEP	Denmark
010	01/06/1991	LX1SI	Luxembourg
011	01/06/1991	ON5SE	Belgium
012	02/06/1991	HB9SNR	Switzerland

The contact with HB9SNR was unusual in that it took place at 01:20 AM local time in the morning. Its unusual to get Sporadic-E propogation at this time of the day. Back in 1991, HB9 stations could only operate on 50 MHz outside of TV hours, ie. After midnight. On the 5th of June, I caught my first Aurora on 6m. For the rest of June, there were several Sporadic-E openings with the odd aurora as well.

013	05/06/1991	G4CCZ	England
014	06/06/1991	CT4KQ	Portugal
015	13/06/1991	GI0OTC	Northern Ireland
016	16/06/1991	PA3EUI	Netherlands
017	16/06/1991	GM3XOQ	Scotland
018	16/06/1991	LA9ZV	Norway
019	24/06/1991	CU3/K6EDX	Azores

In early July, I built a 2 element yagi and put it up outdoors. Needless to say, this was a big improvement. The following new countries were worked :

020	13/07/1991	GW6VZW	Wales
021	22/07/1991	YU3ES	Slovenia
022	27/07/1991	I2ADN/IM0	Sardinia
023	28/10/1991	GD7JQI	Isle of Man

One of the things that I noticed in 1991 was that many stations were using home made equipment and transverters. The typical power level then was between 5 and 20 watts with only a few using 100 watts. Compare that to today!!
The YU3 station worked was at a time when the break up of Yugoslavia was happening. Those YU3 stations would later use the S5 prefix.
One of the restrictions in force at this time was that all Italian stations were supposed to stay between 50.153 and 50.163 MHz. I remember Italian stations calling me on 50.110 MHz, asking me to go to their frequency allocation so they could get EI as a new country!!

Year - 1992

During the start of 1992, there was a second peak to the peak of Solar Cycle 22. Although I heard several signals from North America and the Caribbean during January, I could not break any of the pile-ups with my QRP setup (4w + 2el Yagi at 20ft). My first F2 layer contacts came on the 7th of February.

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
024	04/01/1992	OK2PZW	Czechoslovakia
025	07/02/1992	AI1K	USA
026	07/02/1992	VE1YX	Canada

During the Sporadic-E season, I worked :

027	24/04/1992	YT2AQ	Croatia
028	10/05/1992	GJ4ICD	Jersey
029	29/05/1992	CN2BM	Morocco
030	29/05/1992	SV1OH	Greece
031	30/05/1992	9H5EE	Malta
032	30/05/1992	5B4/G3KOX	Cyprus
033	01/06/1992	YU7AU	Yugoslavia
034	06/06/1992	OH0MMM	Aland Is.

By the end of 1992, I had worked most of the easy countries within 1 hop Sp-E range. Although I had got some double hop Sporadic-E contacts (SV, 9H, 5B4), it was getting difficult to work new countries with my QRP set-up.

Year - 1993

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
035	16/01/1993	EH1DIH	Spain
036	04/06/1993	C31HK	Andorra
037	10/07/1993	EH6IF	Balearic Is.
038	10/07/1993	OY3JE	Faroe Is.
039	12/07/1993	OK1DIG	Czech Rep.
040	12/07/1993	SP5EFO	Poland
041	17/07/1993	T70A	San Marino
042	29/05/1993	OM3ID	Slovak Rep.

By the end of the 1993 Sporadic-E season, I had bought a new rig, a Kenwood TS690 with 50 watts o/p. The extra power and better reciever certainly made a big difference.
The break up of the former Czechoslovakia resulted in two new countries in 1993, OK and OM.
The number of new countries was begining to slow down with only 8 new countries worked.

Year - 1994

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
043	16/05/1994	TK/F5HRY	Corsica
044	21/05/1994	EU1AA	Belarus
045	21/05/1994	5T5JC	Mauritania
046	02/06/1994	JY7SIX	Jordan
047	08/06/1994	EH8ACW	Canary Is.
048	15/06/1994	K0SN/CY9	St. Paul Is.
049	17/06/1994	SV5TS	Dodecaneese Is.
050	17/06/1994	ES1CW	Estonia
051	18/06/1994	RA3TES	Russia
052	22/06/1994	Z32BU	Macedonia

Alot of the new countries worked in 1994 were countires that had been activated for the first time. Several of these contacts were EI firsts.
Several of the East European countries were starting to allow 6m operation.
In all, 10 new countries were worked.

Year - 1995

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
053	21/05/1995	CT3FT	Madeira Is.
054	28/05/1995	HB0/DL8SET	Lietchenstein
055	04/06/1995	4U0ITU	ITU Headquarters - Geneva
056	10/06/1995	HV4NAC	Vatican
057	19/06/1995	ER1LW	Moldova
058	19/06/1995	UX0FF	Ukraine
059	05/07/1995	EH9IE	Ceuta + Mellila
060	21/07/1995	YL3AG	Latvia

8 new countries worked this year. By the end of the year, I had hit the "60" mark.
However, by now, I had worked most of the European countries within single hop Sporadic-E range and it was getting harder to find new ones.

Year - 1996

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
061	19/05/1996	HA6ZB	Hungary
062	10/08/1996	LY/DJ1OJ/P	Lithuania
063	11/08/1996	TF3T	Iceland

A dismal year. Only 3 new countries worked and it wasn't from lack of trying.
The Sporadic-E season was the worst that I had ever seen. So much for the the peak in Sporadic-E activity during the sunspot minimum years!!

Year - 1997

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
064	04/06/1997	OJ0/DL5IO	Market Reef
065	10/06/1997	SV9/DL8SET	Crete

In 1997, I replaced the 2 element Yagi. I built a 4 element long spaced Yagi (8.6 dbd) and put it onto a 30 ft mast. The extra gain and lower angle of radiation was worth the effort.
Despite this, only 2 new countries were worked.

During 1996 and 1997, Alan, EI3EBB and myself were easily the most active EI stations on 6 metres. Yet despite this, I had only worked 5 new countries in 2 years!!
With my country total at 65 countries, I was beginning to doubt if the magic 100 mark was possible.

Year - 1998

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
066	07/06/1998	YO4CIS	Romania
067	17/06/1998	OD5RAK	Lebanon
068	19/06/1998	T97M	Bosnia
069	27/07/1998	3C5I	Equatorial Guinea
070	06/08/1998	GU7DHI	Guernsey
071	17/10/1998	ZS6XJ	Rep. of South Africa

Several of the countries worked above were as a result of new activity from those countries. It began to seem as if this was the only way I could pick up new countries.
However, it was interesting to note that ZS was worked in October. This was the first sign of the improving solar conditions and was the first F2 related contact of cycle 23.

Year - 1999

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
072	26/05/1999	TZ6VV	Mali
073	10/06/1999	LZ1KBB/P	Bulgaria
074	16/06/1999	KP4BZ	Puerto Rico
075	18/06/1999	7Q7RM	Malawi
076	18/06/1999	9J2BO	Zambia
077	20/06/1999	4L5O	Armenia

6 new countries worked this year and all involved some form of multi-hop propogation.

Year - 2000

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
078	16/05/2000	4Z5AO	Israel
079	25/05/2000	FH/TU5AX	Mayotte Is.
080	26/05/2000	FR5DN	Reunion Is.
081	26/05/2000	ZA/N7BHC	Albania
082	28/05/2000	Z21KQ	Zimbabwe
083	29/05/2000	OX2K	Greenland
084	30/05/2000	UN3G	Kazakhstan
085	14/06/2000	ZC4FL	UK Bases on Cyprus
086	10/07/2000	3A/OH9MM	Monaco
087	15/07/2000	1A0KM	Soverign Military Order of Malta
088	25/07/2000	JX7DFA	Jan Mayen
089	20/08/2000	ZD8KW	Ascension Is.
090	04/11/2000	SU1SK	Egypt
091	25/11/2000	HC2FG	Ecuador
092	26/12/2000	YV1DIG	Venezuela

In 2000, things really took off. The Summer Sporadic-E conditions were excellent with the first F2 only contacts in November and December.
However, there were only a few F2 openings and many of the signals were very weak.

Year - 2001

Number	Date	Callsign	Country
093	03/03/2001	C56/DL7CM	The Gambia
094	26/03/2001	V5/DM5TI	Namibia
095	12/05/2001	3B6RF	Agalega & St.Brandon

I would probably rate the 3B6RF contact as my best ever on 50 MHz. This was a DX-pedition station located on Agalega Island in the Indian Ocean. I found their weak CW signal by accident as I was tuning accross what I thought was a dead band. After working them, they faded into the noise a few minutes later. It really was a case of just been in the right place at the right time.
As far as I know, I was the only EI station to work them and considering how rare 3B6 is, it may never be worked from EI again.

096

06/07/2001

PY5CC

Brazil

South America was always a problem for me to work. I have a large hill to my South West and any of the PY and LU signals that I have heard were always too weak to work. The breakthrough came when I was just able to work PY5CC on the 6th of July.

097	23/07/2001	YM0KA	Turkey
098	02/08/2001	TT8JE	Chad
099	09/08/2001	5A1A	Libya

At this stage, I knew that I would need about 105 countries to get DXCC on 50 MHz. In the radio magazines and on the Internet, the predictions for the 2001/2002 F2 season were poor. I thought maybe it might take another 1 to 2 years to hit the 105 mark.

100	29/10/2001	9G5AN	Ghana
101	29/10/2001	PY0FM	Fernando de Noronha
102	29/10/2001	VU2ZAP	India

Incredible conditions!! 3 new countries in 1 day!! And I hit the magic 100 mark. Consider back in 1997 that I worked only 2 new countries that year.
Conditions during November and December were superb. Lots of new countries were worked during the Winter months.

103	03/11/2001	XW0X	Laos
104	16/11/2001	XE1KK	Mexico
105	18/11/2001	DU1/GM4COK	Philippines
106	19/11/2001	HC8N	Galapagos Is.
107	22/11/2001	YS1RR	El Salvador
108	24/11/2001	D44BS	Cape Verde Is.
109	25/12/2001	CO2OJ	Cuba
110	26/12/2001	FY5KE	French Guyana
111	26/12/2001	VP5VAC	Turks & Caicos
112	27/12/2001	PJ2MI	Netherland Antilles
113	27/12/2001	P49MR	Aruba
114	27/12/2001	ZF1DC	Cayman Is.
115	31/12/2001	TI5KD	Costa Rica

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So in February 2002, I finally recieved 6 Metre DXCC certificate number 441 from the ARRL.
This was the very first 50 MHz DXCC and VHF DXCC issued to an EI station.

If you would like to see what a 50 MHz DXCC certificate looks like, click HERE

Some Notes :

• Since 1991, I have been very active every year on 50 MHz.
  Over the 10 years since 1991, I have had over 6,000 contacts on 6 metres.
  
  
• The slowdown in new countries in 1996 and 1997 just goes to show what happens when you have worked most of the countries within 1 to 2 hop Sporadic-E range. In Europe, this is usually around the 60 to 70 mark.
  
  
• Several of the contacts listed above were in fact the first contacts ever on 50 MHz between EI and those countries

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Last Modified : 29th May 2002