[50mhz] antenna 2m/6m vertical

[Marvin L. Jones]

On Thu, 18 Aug 2005, Schichler, Alfred wrote:

>Are you guys mostly talking about 6 meter FM, or will those vertical
>antennas work for ssb? I think I heard that most of those sigs are
>horizontally polarized, but I'm not sure. I'm very new to 6.
>
>I've been using a G5RV (with a tuner) to listen on 6 meters, but I haven't
>heard much so far. Just an FM repeater around 53.3 MHz. The G5RV seems to
>pull in more than the Butternut HF-6V (with a tuner), and the 2 meter Ringo
>Ranger doesn't pull in much at all, but then, it's not very high.
>
>Al
>WA2AS

Us "Guys" here on the 50MHz reflector are mostly carrying on about
6M "weak signal" (i.e., 6M SSB+CW) work.  Verticals will work for SSB.
But, you're gonna be happier with horizontal propagation.

For a time, I worked 6m SSB mobile with a 2M 5/8 wave vertical.  I
made contacts.  But, I never realized how badly I was "polarization
challenged" until I went to a 6M Halo.  I simply heard more 'stuff'
than I had ever heard before while mobile.  (And, they heard me more,
too -- I'm sure.)

I built my own mobile 6M Halo:  http://jonz.net/W3DHJ/6mhalo.html
It been serving me well for 3 years now  ---  several 10's of thousands
of miles - at speeds up to 85 MPH (or, a wee bit more......)

But, for fixed operation, a 50 Mhz dipole should serve you well -- help
you "get your feet wet" -- and let you figure out what you want to do
next - v-a-v antennas.  For fixed operation, I use a 3-el beam. It's not
too directional, but it does help to point at the signal (versus at the
other station - because Es can cause some skewed propagation paths.)
Because of its big, broad pattern, I notice band opening early on --
even when it's from a direction I ain't pointing at.  I think some
fellers with their huge, highly directional systems don't know that the
band is open until they get a phone call or see the chatter about it on
http://dxworld.com/50prop.html.  HI!HI!

OBTW, there are some good URL references at the bottom of that page
above.  (Which too many folks never scroll down and read, because they
damn sure do not follow the rules for using the Prop Logger that are
listed there, too.)  And, then, from _those_ URL's, you'll be pointed to
even MORE URL's -- all covering various aspects of operating on
The Magic Band.

Then, of course, there's the largest FAQ repository on the planet:
For 6M antennas:
 http://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=%226+Meter%22+antenna
   -- which, of course, includes a lot of commercial web pages.

For 6M in general, start with:
 http://www.google.com/search?as_q=%226+Meter%22+%22magic+band%22&num=50

gl es 73
Jonesy
-- 
  Marvin L Jones     | jonz         | W3DHJ  |  linux
   Pueblo, Colorado  |  @           | Jonesy |   OS/2     __
    38.24N  104.55W  |   config.com | DM78rf |            SK