XG3 6M beacon W7RD

[Edward R Cole]

Bill,

And I hope you realize that comparing 6m propagation to 80m
propagation is not fair!  Most likely the XG3 beacon on 50-MHz will
only utilize ground-wave prop.  There may be some tropo-scatter
effect but that is usually more enhanced higher into VHF/UHF.

Of course if Es or MUF> 50-MHz are in existence, you can achieve
unbelievable 6m DX with low power.

Your proposal for 10m is more on an equal plain if there are no
enhanced propagation effects.

On an average day up here under the Auroral Belt there is no 6m
enhancement and making contacts over 100-miles with ground-wave can
be a challenge even with 100w!  Almost always I find 2m is superior
to 6m ground-wave.

That may change now that I am getting a 6-element (13-dBi) 6m yagi
set up.  But then antenna gain nearly always helps
(point-to-point).  The nice part of antenna gain is it works in receive, also!

------------------------------

Message: 45
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:44:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bill W4ZV <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] XG3 6M beacon W7RDP/B on the air
To: [hidden email]
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


I hope you realize that 1000 microwatts (1 mW or 0 dBm) is very QRO in the
world of weak signal beacons.  Try 27 microwatts at a distance of 546.8
miles on 80 meters.  ;-)

http://www.eham.net/articles/10078

When lightning season is over (next fall), I'll hook up my XG3 to my 3-stack
on 10 meters (22 dBi gain) and see if you can hear me in W6 land.

73,  Bill  W4ZV





73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
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BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
EME: 50-1.1kw?, 144-1.4kw, 432-100w, 1296-60w, 3400-?
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [hidden email]
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[Bill W4ZV]

Edward R. Cole wrote

And I hope you realize that comparing 6m propagation to 80m
propagation is not fair!  Most likely the XG3 beacon on 50-MHz will
only utilize ground-wave prop.  There may be some tropo-scatter
effect but that is usually more enhanced higher into VHF/UHF.

Hi Ed,

Having operated extensively on 10m (current USA SOSB/10 records in CQ WW, ARRL DX and CQ WPX, both modes) and on 160/80m (DXCC 331/347 confirmed), I can tell you it's MUCH more difficult on the lower bands.  One of the primary reasons is the higher ambient noise floor due to both atmospheric noise (lightning-induced) and man-made noise on the low bands (see the link below).  Other reasons are the greater difficulty of achieving TX antenna gain and RX antenna directivity.  These factors combined result in at least a 20 dB handicap versus the higher bands (e.g. my 160m TX antenna has 5 dBi gain versus 22 dBi for my 10m stack).  

I don't operate 6m but I understand QRP can propagate over long distances when Es and F2 is good.  0 dBm to my 10m stack will easily reach W6 (or much further) if conditions are right.  0 dBm to a 22 dBi antenna gives an ERP equivalent to about 200 mW to a vertical and I've worked Europeans in contests on 10m running those levels during the last cycle peak.

73,  Bill  W4ZV

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/topics/interference/documents/rsgb.pdf