50 mHz

THE MAGIC BAND

1992 year

A few days ago, while looking for an indicative in the old logbook, I found this information (see photo). I immediately remembered the details of the situation, and taking advantage of the fact that we are going through the time of year that is favorable for the 50 MHz band, it occurred to me that it would be a good explanation for those who are starting out in this band and why it is called "THE MAGIC BAND".

(I tell the younger ones that the way to know the propagation conditions was the bulletins of the Argentine Navy's ionospheric institute and I compared the biweekly electronic magazines where this information was included. The other way was to monitor the beacon ​​of the band to be used).

One day in 1992, with the band closed and no beacons heard, tired of calling CQ, I was preparing to turn off the station. At that moment, behind me I heard a tangle of stations shouting my callsign. It's worth clarifying that during the minutes

that the sporadic S meter lasted, the S meter never went below 9+20.

The situation became tense trying to write down the cascade of new prefixes. Luckily, they were all stations from Japan, which simplified the situation since they are generally respectful/orderly. Suddenly, magically, as if the propagation opened up in the middle of a QSO, the signals vanished without warning.

My conditions at that time were: TS 680 S 25W PaP. 5-element Yagi antenna, which I copied from the ARRL ANTENNA BOOK (At the bottom of the photo you can see the 6-meter Yagi) (I recommend it).

For those interested, I'll leave you the dimensions of the antenna.