Higher HF is GO!

Pretty good conditions all the way up to 6m today, with the weekend activity only making matters even better!

When the upper HF bands are open, they are just that.  It doesn't matter so much what antenna or power you are using - you are going to have a good time, regardless.

For example, here's a portable GI working VO1FOG on 12m:

 

To highlight this fact, here's my plot of activity from the beach on 12 (red) and 10m (pink) with stick antennas.  The simplicty of the antenna type is very much more than compensated by the seaside environment:

Now compare this with my 10m-only operation (over a longer period during the day), mostly RX, with my decidely poor home location's antenna, a shallow, sloping multiband delta loop.

So, that saying 'when upper HF is open, a wet string will get you through' is, in fact, rather true - and never more so than now, when we have these sensitive digital modes at hand.

Over on 10m WSPR from the beach, I was pleased to get 1W across with a decent signal to Reunion - a distance of 10,000km (the first spot had an incorrect locator for me for some reason).