͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ 
Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.
KJ6ER Antennas

April 2026

Get Ready for Sporadic-E Season

with KJ6ER 6-Meter Portable Antennas;

Also, the New kj6er.net Website is Now Live.

Dear Fellow Portable Antenna Geeks 😀

First of all, I am excited to announce that my new kj6er.net website is now live! Please take a quick peak and let me know if it flows well and looks good on your devices. The site includes all my free antenna content links, as well as signing up for my Antenna Geeks List and requesting a presentation to your Amateur Radio Club. I will always keep it updated with fresh content, so share the site with all your ham radio friends and fellow antenna geeks. Feel free to suggest what other KJ6ER content I should include. Now ... on to this month's topic: Sporadic-E.


Sporadic-E propagation is one of the most exciting and challenging opportunities in amateur radio. It occurs in the unique E layer of the ionosphere, approximately 50 to 90 miles (90 to 130 km) above the Earth's surface, where dense and irregular patches of ionization form. These patches or clouds can reflect and refract radio signals at much higher frequencies than normally expected, enabling long-distance communications on the 10-meter HF band (28 MHz) to the 2-meter VHF band (144 MHz), with the peak activity occurring on the 6-meter VHF band (50 MHz). Currently, there are seven individual KJ6ER antenna designs that you can leverage successfully in the field and/or at home to experience the special excitement of Sporadic-E on the 6-meter band.


If you do not have the time, ability or interest to build your own KJ6ER antenna, you can purchase a beautifully assembled handmade antenna system as well as accessories on Etsy. More than 200 products have already been sold at the J-Systems Store on Etsy since June 2025 with over 50 perfect 5-star reviews from buyers.

KJ6ER Website
Ionospheric Layers
IC-7300 on 6-Meters
J-Systems Etsy Store
Seasonal Patterns of Sporadic-E
Time of Day for Sporadic-E

Although Sporadic-E openings are unpredictable, they do follow regular seasonal patterns that experienced amateur radio operators learn to recognize. Knowing these patterns will help you prepare your operations to take optimal advantage of these exciting magic band openings. The primary Sporadic-E season occurs during late spring and early summer, typically from May through July in the northern hemisphere.


Time of day also plays a role in potential Sporadic-E activity where propagation peaks during the middle of the day and early evening hours local time. As the sun heats and energizes the upper atmosphere, ionization in the E layer increases, allowing dense patches of charged particles to form. These patches are capable of reflecting radio signals, and by mid-to-late morning, the first openings often begin to appear.

Sporadic-E is one of my favorite aspects of VHF amateur radio because it is so unpredictable and has spontaneous potential for amazing long-distance contacts. Take the time before the prime Sporadic-E season begins to understand its behavior and be prepared so that you can take full advantage of its fleeting opportunities. As you gain more experience and patiently scan the 6-meter band, Sporadic-E can become a continuing and rewarding part of your late spring/early summer amateur radio activity for many seasons to come. Download the free 11-page PDF, Sporadic-E Propagation and 6-Meter Portable Antennas by KJ6ER.

This Month's KJ6ER Antenna Heroes

Each month I feature videos of hams talking about their own implementation of a KJ6ER antenna including how they built and deployed it, as well as how it performed. I've received so many Antenna Hero videos, I elected to feature four heroic KJ6ER Antenna hams this month! Let's take a look at POTA videos from two hams in Washington state, one in Texas and one in Oklahoma. Enjoy!

P. S. Watch this video interview I recently conducted with Stu Crawford VE9CF titled The Best Portable Antennas for POTA? KJ6ER Reveals His Secrets!

Paul Risenmay KA7APR of Othello, Washington has a ham radio YouTube channel where he recently featured the deployment of a PERformer 2-Element Parasitic Array. In this video, watch how he built and deployed his version of the array including many great tips and tricks. He also attempts the 3-Element Array. Subscribe to his YouTube channel.

KA7APR PERformer Array Video
Jeremy Weber N7RIP Video

Jeremy Weber N7RIP of Waterville, Washington has a YouTube channel called God, Country and Ham Radio (great name). In this video, he compares a

53-foot long wire antenna with his version of the PERformer Antenna. Spoiler Alert: he says it was No Contest! Take a look at how he deployed his version of the PERformer and how the two antennas compare. Subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Scott Taylor WE5J of Jersey Village, Texas is passionate about CW and shares his experiences, both good and challenging, on his ham radio YouTube channel. In this video, he provides a detailed walk-through of his 'perfect' homebrew quarterwave portable antenna inspired by the PERformer Antenna. Subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Scott Taylor WE5J Video
Randy Dunn NSILQ YouTube Video

Randy Dunn N5ILQ of Edmond, Oklahoma has a wonderful tagline, "Every POTA Day is a Great Day!" I completely agree. In this video, he deploys his version of the PERformer NVIS Antenna due to the high winds at his POTA park. He runs both CW and SSB modes on three bands: 40M, 20M and 15M, and had a very successful high radiation angle activation. Subscribe to his YouTube channel.

If you would like your video featured in one of my upcoming newsletters, show how you are building and deploying your own KJ6ER antenna. You will get visibility with thousands of my newsletter subscribers worldwide! Send me a link to your online video about any of my antennas and I will feature it in one of my future newsletters! I am very interested in how you customized the build for your own needs either as portable or at your home QTH. I know many of these videos already exist - send me a link to your favorite. There are many creative builders out there with wonderful tips and tricks. I would like to offer you a global platform to share your great ideas!

KJ6ER Heroes Program

KJ6ER Beta Testers Program

As many of you know, I introduced a KJ6ER Antennas Beta Testers program recently to encourage interested hams to get draft PDFs of my new antennas in advance, build and deploy them, and then summarize their experiences in video. If you would like to become a KJ6ER Antenna Beta Tester, send me a message. Your early review of my draft PDF, antenna design and build helps me improve the content quality in the PDF, as well as the construction and deployment process.

ABR Coaxial Cables

Why not buy yourself a well-deserved gift of a fresh set of high quality ABR coaxial cables. If you use my callsign KJ6ER as the coupon code at check-out, you will receive a nice 10%-20% discount on your total order! Get your new ABR cables today!

Until next time, keep having fun out there! Building ham radio antennas is our last homebrewing frontier and I am dedicated to helping you do so successfully! See all my free antenna design plans on my website and at the cloud links below.



If someone forwarded this email to you and want to be added to my antenna geeks email list, send me a message and you will be the first to receive new KJ6ER antenna designs and updates! I am also available to present my antennas to your Amateur Radio Club via Zoom. Let me know if they are interested! 



As always, feel free to reach out to me if you ever have any questions, I'd be happy to help you! 🙂 73 KJ6ER, Silicon Valley

My mission is to design efficient and effective portable antennas for the every-ham that focus on the optimal integration of performance (high radiation efficiency), elegance (speed and simplicity of deployment) and convenience (ease of transport and storage). These designs are always shared for free with the global amateur radio community to encourage more radio operators to homebrew their own portable antennas. 

KJ6ER Antennas

Cloud Drive File Links (KJ6ER):

Greg Mihran, KJ6ER

Campbell, California

Visit My QRZ Page!

If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.