Magic Band – Reality check

The last few days I have been looking at my 6m logs try and determine what I still needed to complete my 6m DXCC.

I have come to the conclusion that it very unlikely if not impossible for me to reach that elusive goal. Cycle 24 is almost a thing of the past and I will most likely be retired and living about 1000 km south of my existing QTH during the next peak. This will without doubt exclude me from operating via 6m Trans Equatorial Propagation (TEP) since it very seldom reaches that far south.

There is one other alternative, which is Sporadic-E and Tropo to African countries or the Islands surrounding Africa within 6m range. This however presents another problem. The Magic Band is generally not well supported in Africa. The image below is testament to that fact.

I have 55 DXCC countries confirmed on 6m and only 4 of them are in Africa, this is excluding South Africa and one EME QSO with Lance W7GJ the remaining stations are from mainly Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

ZS6A 6M African countries worked

F2 openings on 6m are only a figment of an over active imagination. That is something the old timers talk about to make us jealous…….