Reelin’ in the Es – June 2026 Skip Report

The month of June turned out better than most Dxers thought it would. We went back through the logger archives for the month and found that the only days that didn’t have any skip were the 1st, 14th, 16th, 23rd and 26th. That’s only five days out of the entire month! Of course, everyone didn’t get to take part in every skip event. A few of them were strictly for westerners or easterners with the rest riding right the middle of the continent. But there were a few that seemed to cover just about everyone. Those were the big ones.

The period of June 9th through the 11th was the best of the month with MUFs going through at least 162.5mhz. For many Dxers, the 10th was the day of 8 hour DX sessions and skip fatigue. For TV Dxers, it featured some VHF-highband DTV logs, confirming for all of us that yes, DTV Es on channel 8 and beyond does exist.

Steve Rich is a lucky Dxer who received a channel 8 DTV via skip. Steve comments: “My remote setup at Milford, IL received VHF-hi via E-skip with CKCK 8/2, Regina, SK @ 1056 miles on June 21, 2026 for only the second time.  MUF was almost to the top of the FM band.  A nice surprise during the opening.”

Bill Hepburn also reports reception of highband DTV. Bill writes: “At 4:58 p.m., KMNE-7 Bassett, Nebraska was received on my Zenith Box (1,009 miles). My first confirmed highband VHF log in 50 years of TV DXing.”

Bill also states “that MUF was 162+ MHz for long stretches between 4:20 and 7:58 p.m. EDT. 25 stations received on the WX band – from North Dakota down through Texas. This was the best WX band skip opening that I’ve ever seen.”

Speaking of weather radio, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Dxers actively Dxing the weather band. It could be that the amount of HD, translators and LPFMs on the FM band is forcing people to the weather band, which is much less populated, in many areas, than their FM dials. This could be one of the reasons for the large amount of weatherband loggings in June.

Stuart Carlson W8SRC in Michigan made an interesting YouTube video of his weather DX.

Matt in Palmdale, CA has been chasing weather DX. Mat says: “the highlight for June of this year was my first confirmed NWR ES captures on June 4. They are the following:”

KJY97 Chilress, TX [162.525 MHz] (1014 miles)
WNG713 Miami, TX [162.450 MHz] (990 miles)
WXJ35 Portales, NM [162.475 MHz] (843 miles)

Marko Weck in Finland was Dxing using the spyserver operated by new WTFDA member Frank Anderson IV. The server is located in Michigan. He did well on June 10. He writes: “I am still reviewing my NOAA WX band recordings from the June 10th opening. I can tell already that among the stations I received on the 162 MHz band were e.g.,
162.500 WNG636 Cisco, TX
162.475 WXK22 Sherman, TX
– These two were with call IDs, but I think I also had:
162.475 WXK37 Big Spring, TX (“The Midland international airport climate summary for this evening as of 5 PM June 10th 2026 …”),
162.550 WXK86 Lawton, OK
162.400 WXK85 Oklahoma City, OK (“…if your radio is not activated by the test, please call us at 405-325 …”, also Logan was mentioned in places)
162.475 San Angelo was also mentioned here, e.g., “Visit weather.gov/sanangelo … <fadeout> …weather information source serving West Texas and eastern New Mexico. Here are the latest Mesonet observations as of 7:35 p.m. Central Daylight Time …”. And apparently places like Goldthwaite, Sunray, Romero, Lipscomb, and the Palo Duro Reservoir were mentioned. Additionally, Coleman was mentioned after that. I don’t know yet whether this was WXN89 Coleman or something else or maybe two NOAA transmitters mixed together as one fading out and another one coming in. This was only my third NOAA weather band opening to date, and it was clearly the best one.”

So June was a great month for weather DX, but what about double-hop Es? If you DX the FM band, you know that single hop Es is very common but double hop (2ES) is not and it’s on every Dxers’ must-hear list because of the distances involved.

Randy Zerr KW4RZ, Dxing from Goldfield, Nevada, lives in double hop paradise. He has a nice video of his double hop receptions from June 10 on YouTube.

One in particular of WETA 90.9 in Washington, DC stands out. Randy speaks about the 10th: “The window when 90.9 WETA Washington DC came in, all signals appear ragged and are weak, scattery. 92.9 Nashville, TN, 2 in Ohio, and WETA Washington DC are the only IDs so far and all on strange different paths. Most too weak for RDS. Who knows what else came in in that 4 minute window, might take hours to review adequate. Quick review at 2028 GMT 92.7 CJBX and 93.7 WBLK Buffalo, NY area, very weak signals.”

John Zondlo in Yukon, Oklahome caught some 2-hop. John says this about that:  “I had double-hop Es June 10. All of it was on 93.1 between 10:35 and 10:50AM CDT. Logged WMGX Portland ME, CIHI Fredericton NB and CKBW-2 Shelburne NS. I have screenshots of the RDS from WMGX and CIHI. CKBW-2 was confirmed via e-mail from the guest who was on the station when I heard it (only caught about 15 seconds, just enough for her to give her website URL). Only wish I had noticed that Charlottetown also has a 93.1. Still need PEI, NF and BC to finish the Canadian provinces.”

Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, also caught double-hop FM. While sitting on 98.7 listening to single hop stations pop in and out, he heard ‘98.7 the Bomb” which turned out to be KPRF Amarillo, TX at 1647 miles. Mike was using an RSPDuo and a fringe FM yagi. The reception was directly in line with the single hop Es he was receiving.

And over in the State of Washington, Kyle (AKA DXSphere) caught WMSB 88.9 in Mississippi via double hop at 1762 miles at 0049Z. Also during the same time period he caught WFBQ 94.7 in Indianapolis at over 1700 miles. Nice job!

And there you have it. June was a good month with some exceptional DX. If you’re a DXer but not a WTFDA member, why not let us know what you heard or saw during this time period. We are all eager to know!