Spring Equinox 2023 6m in Rome

The night of March 12th on 6m band there was an impressive opening that I will remember for long time.

It all started in the early afternoon with Hong Kong (VR) worked trough a skewed path beaming the antenna to 120 degrees, Indian Ocean. Then the path rotated gradually to South America but, a detail to note, almost no African stations received.
Several countries worked/heard for many hours: PY, LU, ZP, CX, CE and, with a sort of backscatter, some Center America stations like J79 (new DXCC!) and KP4.

Around 22.30z the signals strength was reducing but still some Brazilian were decoded. At a certain time I noticed that many PYs and some LUs were calling E51WL in BI01, North Cook Island. I followed them for a while but none I saw was sending reports, they just calling him. The PY signals faded away and I thought the big opening was definitively over when E51WL appeared on my screen. Jump on the chair. I Immediately called him and completed the QSO in a few periods. Other Italian 6m stations started to call Cook Island but no more valid QSOs, although some of them has received the QSL later because “heard with big signal”…

Moral: it’s when the band become silent that the magic things happen.

The updated DXXC status (including 2022 ES) on 6m is:

2022-06-12 JD1BLY Ogasawara FT8

2022-06-30 7O/DL7ZM Yemen CW (!!!) (video recorded by IW0HEX)

2022-07-06 FP/KV1J St. Pierre e Miquelon FT8

2022-10-23 3C3CA Equatorial Guinea FT8

2022-09-12 TO7GJ Mayotte FT8

2023-03-12 J79WTA Dominica FT8

2023-03-12 E51WL North Cook Island FT8

2023-03-18 TG9AJR Guatemala FT8

2023-05-06 8Q7KB Maldives FT8

Total 203 CW + 26 FT8 = 229 DXCC entities/ 19 years