6 Meter Questions - OT
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Are there more sporadic E openings on 6 meters closer
to the sunspot cycle maximum? How bad is a "poor" Summer for 6m CW & SSB, and on average how often does that happen as compared to a decent Summer of stateside DX on 6 meters? [Elecraft] K3 on 6 Meters Bill W5WVO w5wvo at cybermesa.net Tue Apr 1 16:42:37 EST 2008 Previous message: [Elecraft] K3 on 6 Meters Yes, Dave, you can rest assured that there are many present and near-future K3 owners waiting with bated breatrh for this year's sporadic-E season to start. Where you are in AZ, monitor 50125 kHz for occasional "early bird" openings starting around mid-April; the "main event" gets going around May 15 and lasts through August 15, typically. If you have never experienced a 6-meter sporadic-E season, you're in for a real fun (and probably addictive) experience! And get that 1.8 kHz roofing filter ready for the ARRL and CQ VHF contests in June/July. If the band is open, you'll need it! Bill W5WVO DM65 K3 late April / early May _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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Mentioned is a sixth reason to my recent post of additional reasons
besides contesting for a 1.8 filter for SSB. Six Meter sporadic E signals can be very, very loud and band conditions often change rapidly so two stations very close to each can appear very suddenly through no fault of their own. This is even more true during the VHF Contests if the band opens. The questions I will answer direct. 73, Ed W0SD _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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In reply to this post by Don Rasmussen
Don Rasmussen wrote:
> Are there more sporadic E openings on 6 meters closer > to the sunspot cycle maximum? No. There has never been any credible evidence that the solar cycle affects sporadic-E one way or the other. You can't prove a negative, but there is certainly no observable correlation that has been shown to be statistically significant. > How bad is a "poor" Summer for 6m CW & SSB, and on > average how often does that happen as compared to a > decent Summer of stateside DX on 6 meters? Worst sporadic-E summer on 6m here in NM (recently) was probably the summer of 2004 -- only 658 Qs, though I did miss the last three weeks of the season due to moving. Best was the summer of 2006, by far (2204 Qs). What an awesome year! Last summer was good in some places (especially the east coast), so-so in others, like here -- 1262 Qs in 2007. Unlike F2, there's no proven way of predicting when it's going to be a great year for sporadic-E. It's great about as often as it is crummy -- in other words, a more or less normal distribution of badness/goodness. :-) Bill W5WVO > > [Elecraft] K3 on 6 Meters > Bill W5WVO w5wvo at cybermesa.net > Tue Apr 1 16:42:37 EST 2008 > > Previous message: [Elecraft] K3 on 6 Meters > > > Yes, Dave, you can rest assured that there are many > present and near-future K3 > owners waiting with bated breatrh for this year's > sporadic-E season to start. > Where you are in AZ, monitor 50125 kHz for occasional > "early bird" openings > starting around mid-April; the "main event" gets going > around May 15 and lasts > through August 15, typically. If you have never > experienced a 6-meter > sporadic-E season, you're in for a real fun (and > probably addictive) > experience! > > And get that 1.8 kHz roofing filter ready for the ARRL > and CQ VHF contests in > June/July. If the band is open, you'll need it! > > Bill W5WVO > DM65 > K3 late April / early May > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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In reply to this post by Ed Gray W0SD
Absolutely, Ed! This really should be understood clearly by 6m newbies with
only HF experience. Sporadic-E is different than F2 in two important ways: 1) Sporadic-E is localized and dynamic. The sporadic-E "clouds", as they are called, are sometimes quite small and localized. And they move, sometimes very quickly. Consequently, you can't hear most of the people who are operating on the band at any one instant in time. Due to shifting sporadic-E conditions, signals can pop in or out very fast -- within minutes or seconds from "not there" to "S9+40" or vice-versa. 2) Sporadic-E is extremely efficient. Sporadic-E clouds are formed by high-energy horizontal wind shear at the E-layer boundary, and for this reason they are very planar and can be intensely ionized, not unlike a mirror. It is not uncommon for stations 1200 miles away to be 60 dB over S9 during extremely intense openings -- (and you may be surprised to learn that that guy is running 100W to a 3-element yagi at 20 feet). People tend to self-channelize on 5 kHz spacing most of the time, but when an S9+60 signal pops up 5 kHz away, you had BETTER have a good tight roofing filter in your 1st IF. During the two annual summer VHF contests (ARRL, June, and CQ, July), extremely strong signals are literally choking a wide-open 6m band from 50125 up through 50200 and above, and as for the usual 5 kHz spacing... Fuhgeddaboudit! :-) Bill W5WVO Ed Gray W0SD wrote: > Mentioned is a sixth reason to my recent post of additional reasons > besides contesting for a 1.8 filter for SSB. Six Meter sporadic E > signals can be very, very loud and band conditions often change > rapidly so two stations very close to each can appear very suddenly > through no fault of their own. This is even more true during the VHF > Contests if the band opens. > > The questions I will answer direct. > > 73, Ed W0SD > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO
Bill,
What are the characteristics of signals on 6 meters that are propagated by sporadic-E? How would I recognize that s-E is in effect? Richard K5BWV =============================================================== Bill W5WVO wrote: > Don Rasmussen wrote: >> Are there more sporadic E openings on 6 meters closer >> to the sunspot cycle maximum? > > No. There has never been any credible evidence that the solar cycle > affects sporadic-E one way or the other. You can't prove a negative, but > there is certainly no observable correlation that has been shown to be > statistically significant. > >> How bad is a "poor" Summer for 6m CW & SSB, and on >> average how often does that happen as compared to a >> decent Summer of stateside DX on 6 meters? > > Worst sporadic-E summer on 6m here in NM (recently) was probably the > summer of 2004 -- only 658 Qs, though I did miss the last three weeks of > the season due to moving. Best was the summer of 2006, by far (2204 Qs). > What an awesome year! Last summer was good in some places (especially > the east coast), so-so in others, like here -- 1262 Qs in 2007. > > Unlike F2, there's no proven way of predicting when it's going to be a > great year for sporadic-E. It's great about as often as it is crummy -- > in other words, a more or less normal distribution of badness/goodness. :-) > > Bill W5WVO .. ... .... _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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Volatile signal levels - can be there for a few seconds to a few minutes or
even an hour. Signals you receive come more-or-less from roughly a single direction (N, S, E, W). A big advantage of the bandscope on the IC-7800 / IC-7700 - you suddenly see the band coming to life. Simon Brown, HB9DRV -------------------------------------------------- From: "Richard Davis" <[hidden email]> > > What are the characteristics of signals on 6 meters that are propagated by > sporadic-E? How would I recognize that s-E is in effect? > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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Generally all very true! Except for when it isn't. :-) One of the things you
can depend on about 6m -- probably the only thing, actually -- is that it will fool you. I've experienced 6m sporadic-E openings when signals were very strong and rock-solid for hours on end, and coming in from multiple azimuths. All this means is that there are many sporadic-E clouds, they are very hot, they are very large, and they aren't moving very fast. :-) All "unusual" characteristics for sporadic-E, by the book, yet there are many such openings every summer across North America and Europe. In the doctor business, it's called differential diagnosis. It's basically a process of elimination, and it's never 100% certain. Basically, though, if you're hearing signals from well beyond ground wave distance, and you KNOW it isn't F2 because the F2 MUF is way below 50 MHz (as it is now), and it's not aurora (no flutter/distortion, and/or you live too far south to EVER hear aurora), and it's not meteor scatter (signals are stable for more than a second or two), and it's not troposcatter (signal is originating from more than 350 or so miles away and are strong) or tropoducting (unusual on 6m, but happens) or D-layer ionoscatter (don't even ask), and it's during a period of the year where you would expect sporadic-E (May-August, November-January) -- then it's probably some flavor of sporadic-E: single-hop, multi-hop/earthbounce, multi-hop/extended-path, or some combination. Sporadic-E propagation even combines with other modes: sporadic-E plus meteor-scatter, sporadic-E plus tropoducting, and sporadic-E plus F2 have all been observed on multiple occasions. During solar maxima (wait three or four years from now), it is not uncommon to have F2 and sporadic-E propagation happening at the same time -- sometimes combining on a path, sometimes acting separately. And sometimes, you are just very hard-pressed to come up with ANY plausible propagation model to explain what you just heard/worked. Yet, there it is. You gotta love this band. :-) Bill W5WVO Simon Brown (HB9DRV) wrote: > Volatile signal levels - can be there for a few seconds to a few > minutes or even an hour. Signals you receive come more-or-less from > roughly a single direction (N, S, E, W). > > A big advantage of the bandscope on the IC-7800 / IC-7700 - you > suddenly see the band coming to life. > > Simon Brown, HB9DRV > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Richard Davis" <[hidden email]> >> >> What are the characteristics of signals on 6 meters that are >> propagated by sporadic-E? How would I recognize that s-E is in >> effect? > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give it
a try. What do I need for an antenna? Will a multi-band vertical like the Hy-Gain AV-620 give good performance on 6 meters? Should I put up a 2 or 3 element yagi? I'm lazy and very busy so building something just isn't really in the cards right now. If I do the yagi thing, I'll have no rotor so I'll just point the antenna one direction and leave it. Living in VT, I can point it a bit south of west and cover a big chunk of the US. A 2 element yagi would give a wider pattern and might be workable. What modes? I assume CW is just fine on that band or does everyone run SSB or FM? - Keith N1AS - - K2 5411.ssb.100 - - K3 maybe next week? - _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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Start with a 5/8 vertical or a 2 or 3 ele yagi as you suggest, polarisation
can be all over the place. Lots of SSB 50.1 - 50.2 and CW 50.08 - 50.1 (-ish). Simon Brown, HB9DRV -------------------------------------------------- From: "Darwin, Keith" <[hidden email]> > I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give it > a try. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by Darwin, Keith
Darwin, Keith wrote:
>I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give it >a try. >What do I need for an antenna? A 3 element beam would be nice, but to start, a Squalo type antenna (horizontal) will work just fine for Es openings. Look at the KU4AB: http://ku4ab.com/6m-horiz.html M2 antennas: http://www.m2inc.com/products/6m/6mloop.html And look at Ehams reviews for other equivalents: http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/37 Once you go through a great Es summer, you might want to look at more of an antenna. Since 6 meters in built into the K3, I do encourage any K3 owners who have never tried six to just simply try it this summer. tom k8tb _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by Darwin, Keith
Also,
Keep an ear on 50.060 to 50.080 for the CW beacons. Last summer I would park my radio on 50.062 to hear the W9DR beacon from Florida. If I hear that, I can work anyone in Florida from Michigan. k8tb _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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For another view on 6 meters see:
http://www.kh2d.net/opinions/article.cfm?id=14 While somewhat tongue in cheek, there is a lot of truth to it. You have to look at the joint probability of the band being open and you being at your rig. For some, this joint probability approaches zero. Contesters who are used to working DXCC on several bands during a weekend, find 6M pretty boring. Perhaps this entire thread ought to be moved off this reflector. 73 de Brian/K3KO K8TB wrote: > Also, > > Keep an ear on 50.060 to 50.080 for the CW beacons. Last summer I > would park my radio on 50.062 to hear the W9DR beacon from Florida. If > I hear that, I can work anyone in Florida from Michigan. > > k8tb > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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In reply to this post by Darwin, Keith
Keith,
You'll have much better success with a small yagi than with a vertical. A three-element yagi (Cushcraft 3-element is cheap) will have wide enough a beamwidth so you can get away (most of the time) without rotating it. At least this will give you a taste of what it's like. :-) 90% of the 6m activity in the US is USB. When the band is strongly open, there is also some CW activity. AM and FM are also used by some, but up the band above 50400 kHz. Some urban areas support one or more 6m FM repeaters. But for basic weak-signal work, it's 90% upper-sideband phone. This may be different in EU -- I've heard there is more CW activity there -- but that's how it is here. Know the USA/Canada band plan. The national calling frequency is 50125. You can monitor this frequency and get a good idea most of the time when the band opens. You can also look for CW beacons 50060 to 50080 in the US, sometimes below 50060 in Mexico and elsewhere. When the band is open, do not hold QSOs on 50125, even though you may hear others doing so. QSOs within the USA/Canada should be held above 50125. Stay below 50240, as then you're getting into the WSJT digital meteor-scatter area, which is centered on 50260. Below 50125 is considered the "DX window". It is (mostly) agreed that USA/Canada stations will NOT call CQ DX n this window, but can call or answer CQs from DX stations. CW activity is of course legal anywhere, but tends to happen from the top of the beacon band (50080) to about 50100. Stations running SSB above 50125 will oftentimes switch to CW on the fly if weak-signal conditions require it. Know your maidenhead grid square. A basic QSO on 6m consists of report, grid square, name. Useful URLs: http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA http://dxworld.com/50prop.html http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/50.htm http://www.6mt.com/ http://www.smirk.org/ That's it on a thumbnail. Have fun! Bill W5WVO Darwin, Keith wrote: > I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give > it a try. > > What do I need for an antenna? Will a multi-band vertical like the > Hy-Gain AV-620 give good performance on 6 meters? Should I put up a 2 > or 3 element yagi? I'm lazy and very busy so building something just > isn't really in the cards right now. If I do the yagi thing, I'll > have no rotor so I'll just point the antenna one direction and leave > it. Living in VT, I can point it a bit south of west and cover a big > chunk of the US. A 2 element yagi would give a wider pattern and > might be workable. > > What modes? I assume CW is just fine on that band or does everyone > run SSB or FM? > > - Keith N1AS - > - K2 5411.ssb.100 - > - K3 maybe next week? - > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by Simon (HB9DRV)
Hello,
Another inexpensive simple to install 6 meter ground plane is located here. http://arrowantennas.com/?merchant_return_link=Return+to+Arrow+Antenna EHam reviews of this antenna are here http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2043 I have no connection with this antenna company. Best, DW Holtman WB7SSN ----- Original Message ----- From: "Simon Brown (HB9DRV)" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 6:56 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] 6 Meter Questions - OT > Start with a 5/8 vertical or a 2 or 3 ele yagi as you suggest, > polarisation can be all over the place. > > Lots of SSB 50.1 - 50.2 and CW 50.08 - 50.1 (-ish). > > Simon Brown, HB9DRV > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Darwin, Keith" <[hidden email]> > >> I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give it >> a try. > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by Darwin, Keith
Keith,
I'm probably not the one to answer this, but I will tell you of my limited experience on 6. Last year was my first real venture on 6 meters. I was tinkering with my FT-897D last spring, and ran across several locals. I was actually using my R7 vertical, which supposedly doesn't do 6 meters. But it would load using the antenna tuner. Anyway, talking to the locals was o.k., but since I was vertically polarized they couldn't hear me as well as I could hear them. I was Q5, but not loud. Subsequently, I did make several longer distance contacts using the R7, so once you get a bounce or two the polarization problem doesn't seem as bad. But the antenna itself was pretty poor. I did work into the midwest, southeast, and northwest. All of these were presumably sporadic E contacts. It was fun. Now I have an R8 up, which does supposedly do 6 meters, but I haven't made any contacts with it. So far I haven't heard much on 6, but my monitoring is intermittent. But I am anxious to see if at least the locals hear me any better on an antenna that presumably does do 6 meters--they probably won't because of polarization, but I still want to see how it goes. Now I have built the 6 meter Moxon I posted about earlier. That will be the antenna I use (hopefully) when things start to perk up. It's basically a 2 element antenna--driven element and reflector. Pretty easy to build. I put it up on a pole yesterday, and I was pleased with the readings I got on my antenna analyzer. The antenna seems resonant a bit high--around 50.6 mhz, but at 50.1 it's about 1:3 to 1, which should be just fine. What I need now are some signals so I can check it for front to back, etc. Unfortunately, in my neighborhood I can't just put it up and leave it up. I'm skating on thin ice with the R8 already! So I just attach it to a telescoping pole, and run it up 20 or 25 feet, which isn't too hard because the antenna is pretty lightweight. There are probably lots of 6 meter antennas around that you could try. Some folks say you can throw up most anything during sporadic E and get results. Obviously though, something with real gain is preferable. If anyone is interested in a 2 element beam capable of being set up for any band from 20 through 6 meters, you might check out Vern Wright's portable beam (www.superantennas.com). I have one of those also, but right now it is at another location, and I can't use it for the time being. But it is a heck of an antenna for portable and field use. Vern is in the process of putting out a 3 element version. The 2 element version will probably get you 4 db or so of gain. On 6 meters you don't have to go up all that high to get a nice low take-off angle. If my math is right, a half-wave on 6 is only about 9 feet, so anything above that should show some nice results. The 6 meter Moxon I built should give me maybe 3 db (I said maybe!), and that is even easier to put up on a pole since it is smaller. As for frequency, I think the standard calling frequency for SSB is 50.125 mhz. CW is 50.095 I think. But when things are cooking, you can probably find stuff all around those frequencies. So, use what you have, but some upgrading in the antenna would probably help a lot. I'm sure others have some good suggestions for you. Dave W7AQK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darwin, Keith" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 5:45 AM Subject: RE: [Elecraft] 6 Meter Questions - OT I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give it a try. What do I need for an antenna? Will a multi-band vertical like the Hy-Gain AV-620 give good performance on 6 meters? Should I put up a 2 or 3 element yagi? I'm lazy and very busy so building something just isn't really in the cards right now. If I do the yagi thing, I'll have no rotor so I'll just point the antenna one direction and leave it. Living in VT, I can point it a bit south of west and cover a big chunk of the US. A 2 element yagi would give a wider pattern and might be workable. What modes? I assume CW is just fine on that band or does everyone run SSB or FM? - Keith N1AS - - K2 5411.ssb.100 - - K3 maybe next week? - _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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In reply to this post by alsopb
Brian Alsop wrote:
> You have to look at the joint probability of the band being open and > you being at your rig. For some, this joint probability approaches > zero. During the Es season, you will get plenty of openings if you're available weekday evenings and/or weekends. Just leave the radio monitoring 50125 whenever you're around and you'll catch a lot of them. Unless you are restricted to operating on alternating Tuesday evenings from 9:30 to 11:00 PM (fort example), I think Brian's assessment is a little pessimistic. :-) That said, it IS different than HF. You can't just turn on the radio at any random hour and expect propagation to somewhere. It's true that 6m isn't for everyone. But everyone should have the chance to try it! > Perhaps this entire thread ought to be moved off this reflector. I'm sure if Eric feels it should be curtailed, he will say so. However, 6m was deliberately incorporated into the K3 by the design team, and there is obviously a lot of interest in this feature. Since many Elecraft people have never worked 6m, this seems a good place to disemminate a little basic information about it. After all, "The Elecraft list is a forum for the discussion of topics related to Elecraft products and more general topics related ham radio." 73, Bill W5WVO _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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In reply to this post by Don Rasmussen
As has already been said there does not seem to be any correlation between a
sloar cycle and the occurrence of sporadic E (Es) openings on 6m, certainly at temperate latitudes. But something worth watching for during years of high solar activity, especially around the time of an equinox, are those very interesting but quite rare (perhaps) long haul openings over paths which cross the geomagnetic equator. The propagation involved, putting aside any multihop Es, appears to be regular F layer, sometimes Transequatorial Propagation (TEP), between the southern and northern hemispheres and then Es for the remainder of the northern path. An example of this was the reception of the Cook Island 6m beacon ZK1AA during a double hop Es opening to California in October 1969 when I was living near Montreal P.Q. (VE2AIO). Since 1956 I have found that Es openings on 6m do occur during any month of the year, but are certainly much more frequent during the 'summer and winter seasons'. 73, Geoff GM4ESD Don Rasmussen wrote on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 12:21 AM > Are there more sporadic E openings on 6 meters closer > to the sunspot cycle maximum? > > How bad is a "poor" Summer for 6m CW & SSB, and on > average how often does that happen as compared to a > decent Summer of stateside DX on 6 meters? _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
Re: 6 Meter Questions - OT
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In reply to this post by Don Rasmussen
You don't need a whole lot antenna-wise to be able to work 6 meters when
sporadic E appears or even when we get F2 at a sunspot peak. If you have an antenna tuner that covers 6 meters or can build a simple tuner for 6 meters, just try out your HF antenna and see if it will load. I have used my 170ft CF Extended Double Zepp for 40m on 6 meters for several years and easily orked Europe during our last F2 cycle. I've also worked across the U.S. with the above antenna during sporadic E events so just try out your current HF antenna with a tuner and give it a go. Hope to see y'all on 6 meters this spring. 73, Joe W2KJ I QRP, therefore I am _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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In reply to this post by Darwin, Keith
On Wed, 2008-04-02 at 05:45 -0700, Darwin, Keith wrote: > I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give it > a try. I have 42 US states worked on 6m, including most of the west coast ones, thing is that I am located in Ireland! 6m is a fun band this is a good place to start finding out some more about 6 http://www.uksmg.org/index_cs.php The K3 is a fine 6m radio 73's Brendan EI6IZ -- Don‘t complain. Nobody will understand. Or care. And certainly don‘t try to fix the situation yourself. It‘s dangerous. Leave it to a highly untrained, unqualified, expendable professional. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com |
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