90 countries worked in June’s ‘High Band Challenge’
What countries can we contact on the higher HF bands during June? 
That was the challenge set for Wythall Radio Club members. The focus was on the amateur bands from 15 meters to 6 meters, using the digital mode FT8. This follows the similar Morse Code-only challenge in May.
Overall, club members worked 91 countries – including Hawaii, Chile, Mauritania, Saint Helena island, Cuba and Asiatic Russia.
Impressive results were achieved by Chris G0EYO who worked 77 different countries, closely followed by Lee G0MTN with 69.
On 6 meters – a band noted for its occasional and often very short openings – Mike G4VPD was very active working an impressive 46 countries. Best DX included Bahrain, Puerto Rico, Tajikistan, Canada and Armenia.
Overall, there were 607 QSOs during June’s High Band Challenge.
But it wasn’t all easy going. Band conditions were often poor, with limited and sporadic propogation – “Bands dreadful today, but managed to get Albania on 15m this morning, only there for 10 mins”.
The heat wave in the middle of the month caused additional problems – “Too hot to go into the shack today!”
And occasional erroneous entries in the on-line log caused excitement – “Well done – Swaziland on 15m & 12m! ” “Just checking my log. Looks like I probably did mean Switzerland.”
Here you can see how the QSOs developed over the month!
July’s challenge for club members is to work as many different countries on 80, 40 and 20m using any mode – digital, Morse or SSB (voice).
To see the countries worked by band in June’s Challenge, click this link