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List:       elecraft
Subject:    Re: [Elecraft] 6m......just my thoughts
From:       "Donald Butler" <n5lz () comcast ! net>
Date:       2014-02-27 18:37:30
Message-ID: 12595F63767F4390BB245C7C8EABAD67 () XPS720
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This OT 6 meter thread has been beaten to death and is probably ready to
be retired so I have just a couple points and I'll quit.  The magic band
has always been there, and has always been lots of fun.  Like many
others, I have enjoyed 6M since the late 1970s.  I would have been bored
to death if I had worked 6M only, but it has always been a fun place to
go during Spring months for the annual sporadic-E season.  Up until the
late 1990s, a dedicated 6 meter rig was needed to get on the band, so
most hams never bothered to give it a go and the band was always lonely
even in the Spring.  During that era, a guy who just tuned and never
called CQ would likely miss most band openings and would naively think
the band was always dead (without anyone transmitting a hot band will
always sound dead!.  Yes, there were a few beacons then, but not as many
as today.  The game changed in the late 1990s when new HF transceivers
came with 6 meter capability, and suddenly everyone was on the band,
openings were easier to find, and very few openings have been overlooked
since.  So that's the way it is today.   6M is great fun .. But if you
want to enjoy ham radio on a daily or weekly basis year-round, you
really need to allocate time to the other HF bands.

Don, N5LZ   

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2014 11:01 AM
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] 6m......just my thoughts


My interest in 6M goes back to that memorable solar cycle around 1958, 
when from my QTH in WV I worked ZS in the morning, W6, in the afternoon,

KH6 a bit later with a ground plane and 25W AM. As an active CW op on 
HF, I had great fun keying my 2E26 rig to work AU. 40 years later, I 
enjoyed 6M from Chicago, working about 240 grids over about 3 seasons 
with 100W and a pair of loops at 40 ft.  Since moving to NorCal in 2006,

I've been active on 6M again, and worked grid #300 from this QTH this 
summer.  My 6M activity is about 75% CW, but I also work SSB and Joe 
Taylor's WSJT modes.

Before I had a SteppIR Yagi here in CA, I made at least a dozen 
double-hop E-skip QSOs to the east coast and KH6 loading 100W into an 
80/40M fan dipole.  The SteppIR with the KPA500 is a nice step up, and 
I've got 12 countries confirmed, including VE, XE, KL7, KH6, ZL, VK, JA,

and a few S Pacific islands.

With that perspective, what you can work on 6M depends VERY strongly on 
where you live. Over the last 3-4 summers, there have been MANY, MANY 
openings to EU from east of the Mississippi River, a few that got 
farther west, and a handful to SoCal. I don't remember a single opening 
to EU from NorCal in the 7 years I've lived here. Those east of the MS 
river also get openings into the Caribbean and South America that we 
don't get here.  Those openings to KL7, VK, ZL, and the S Pacific have 
happened no more than a half dozen times since I've lived here, they 
tend to be quite short, and I've been on the air for them twice.

This is the best place I've found to monitor 6M propagation and
activity.

http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php?Frec=50&Map=NA

WSJT modes are coordinated on sites like 
http://www.on4kst.com/chat/start.php   and 
http://www.pingjockey.net/cgi-bin/pingtalk

73, Jim K9YC

On 2/26/2014 2:09 PM, Jeff Stai wrote:
> True, but when I lived in so cal I managed to work most of SA and the 
> pacific rim as well as 48 states (missed AR and NJ) with that three 
> element. Not that forlorn. 73 jeff wk6i
>
> On Wednesday, February 26, 2014, Keith Heimbold<ag6az@hotmail.com>  
> wrote:
>
>> >Not to rain on the folks in Europe or eastern US or even Texas but 
>> >6m is a totally different animal out west.  It is still super fun 
>> >but we get about 1/4 or less of the openings of these other regions.

>> >So yes put up a 3 element antenna but don't expect to even come 
>> >close to those DX numbers. Still it is very enjoyable when the band 
>> >opens, but go into this with eyes wide open.
>> >

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