Mike N2MAK is one of those hams who believes in magic. It’s the kind of enchantment that brings possibilities to summertime in the Northern Hemisphere when sporadic E propagation is strong, breathing new life into 6 metres.
These moments aren’t summoned by a magic wand or an incantation. On the 25th of May, Mike and his friends Fred, N2RPG, Michael W2NVP, Brian W2BMT and many others who took up the challenge of this just-for-fun, 6 Meter FM Activity Day, found that just calling CQ will do the trick.
Activating a POTA park with Mike and the others, the magic happened first for Fred, who made his first 6-metre contact ever. Within two hours, the friends had worked 16 unique stations on 6 metres FM locally, logging 18 contacts in all because one was at a POTA 3-fer. Said Mike “We had an absolute blast.”
Others apparently found the magic too. Mike told Newsline “what meant the most to me was the positive response from hams across the US and in Canada who reached out to me.” Mike’s hope that hams would want to try something different - in the true spirit of amateur radio adventure - was no illusion.
All it took was the simple wave of a band - instead of a hand - to make it happen.