2021 6 Meter APRS Report

Well the end of January is here so it is reasonably safe to assume the 6m “winter” eskip peak season is now past us. That being the case, one can now evaluate 6m APRS over the past year.

2021 was an interesting year on the 6m APRS network (50.620 MHz 1200 baud AFSK) with several new callsigns and digipeater/I-gates joining in.

In 2021 the following callsigns were heard direct at the K4KPN-6 WIDEn-n 6m APRS I-Gate/Digipeater:

K4AF-6 – FM18 – Digi at the Pentagon USAF MARS station. (see Note 1)
K7BC – FM18 – Springfield, VA  WX data
K7BC-6 – FM18 – Springfield, VA  I-Gate
NV4F-6 – FM18 – Nokesville VA  I-Gate & Digi
WC4J-2 – FM18 – Bull Run, VA  I-Gate
KA4RRU-6 – FM18 – Calverton, VA  I-Gate & Digi
VE2GQF-2 – FN45 – Sherbrooke, Quebec  I-Gate & Digi
VE2GQF-6 – FN45 ? – ? Sherbrooke, Quebec  (see Note 2)
KI4WEF – EM78 – Corinth, KY  (see Note 3)
WA4ZKO-6 – EN21 – SW IA mobile & portable (see Note 4)

Note 1 – K4AF-6 sends mostly status packets vs position beacons. As such, don’t count on sites like aprs.fi to accurately log/count them on the Info page. That page only counts valid position packets so you’ll have to review raw RF logs/MH lists to see any other packet types. This is one of the many downsides to using the APRS websites for propagation analysis. Of the Virginia stations, K4AF-6 is the one farthest out and often openings will start with it coming in first, then the others following if the opening builds up further.

Note 2 – Gilles joined in this past July and is well located to hear 6m skip from both VA and KY. He also runs a 30 meter Robust Packet APRS digi/I-gate under the same call. This was another single packet decoded during that August 4th opening, looks like a non-position frame from a TinyTrack tracker?
22:38:25R VE2GQF-6>APTT4,WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 Port=6 <UI>: 6 m

Note 3 – Home station for classic packet use, but he also provides basic digi service and sends APRS compatible beacons 24×7.

Note 4 – Worked QRP mobile via mobile antenna and then switched to a moxon tossed up on an temp mast during an interesting May 8th (early season) opening. 4 watts at 584 miles…gotta love the Magic Band. Usually pick the KY systems up more in Nebraska as the skip distance is better aligned so Iowa was interesting.

Keep in mind the KY <> VA path is very short for 6 meters, so it takes an intense opening. Upside is it makes a good indicator to watch the MUF for possible 2m e-skip.

According to my notes the first 6m opening of the Summer season was detected on May 8th. It was particularly interesting in that there was very little sign of the opening on the DXclusters/DXmaps. I noticed packet bursts stopping scan in the mobile while running errands in SW Iowa. Went stationary when I got back to the farm, aimed the car east (trunk mount antenna, favors a forward pattern LOL) and got a beacon digipeated. K4KPN-4/-6 was coming in fairly strong so I tossed up the moxon I keep in the shop and worked the K4KPN-1 BBS on 6m packet with just a few QSB fades. Minus having 50.620 FM in the scanlist I would of never known that opening was there.

No further openings were detected by K4KPN-6 till May 31st. From there it was the expected stateside e-skip openings of June and July during the Summer peak e-skip season. July 4th was an exceptionally busy day on the KY<>VA path with I think just about all the VA stations heard including K7BC-6 which is not commonly heard that close in.

August 4th was absolutely wild with an intense KY<>VA opening that had packets bouncing and ping-ponging around like crazy and even VE2 was in there at times. K4AF-6 and KA4RRU-6 were so strong they were easy copy on one of our club’s Yaesu VX-8DR HTs with stock antenna while indoors.  Apparently that opening wore the propagation gods out as that was the last big opening on 6m APRS for the Summer.

On October 19th KI4WEF was gated by VE2GQF during what looked like a brief off-season N-S opening.

On December 14th a single frame from WC4J-6 (I assume mobile) was heard digipeated off the KA4RRU-6 digi/gate. Meteor scatter or aircraft scatter/reflection = good ? 10am eastern so I wouldn’t rule out MS although getting late. There is a busy air traffic route there that could set up the aircraft possibility…..don’t ask me how I know. Hi Dale…nice VORTAC there (GCK) LOL  #ThatsNotWindows

Moving on to things missed on 6m APRS during 2021….

The 2021 Marine Corps Marathon in the DC area was canceled again due to COVID. The 47th running of this event is scheduled this Fall on October 28-30th.  For those unaware, 6 meter APRS is used extensively for this special event. Even from afar, it is fun to watch what they can do with a relatively simple network that gives them a clear frequency to hammer out high rate tracking packets. I wouldn’t say 6m is the best choice for urban use, but the Marathon covers a lot of mixed terrain and 6m packet gets it done for them.

Also noteworthy that no 50.615 MHz packet skip out of Arkansas was picked up this year. Usually get several “hits” from the Conway AR node (W5AUU-6), but none in 2021. Yeah that is 5k off freq, but 1200 baud FM packet is more forgiving of frequency error than 9600 baud is.

 

WA4ZKO

 

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