[ADXA] 6M yagi results

[Jay Bromley]

Way to go Dennis!  Well, if you were watching me you know at times, I couldn't work anyone!  Then it seemed a time I could work anyone I wanted.  There was HC2FG Ecuador that I took forever to get in the log.  Finally gave up, but I would try him again when I saw him calling CQ.  Then went down the band working other stations, but after many failed attempts started with TX2 with him and finally got the RR73.  Again, would love to know why I get near plus signal (BTW I did give him +06!) only to have him drop our QSO.  I didn't need Ecuador, but I hadn't worked him before.   Every time he would give me a great signal report, but would never finish the QSO.  I did notice with him I was the only one that was happening to.

Another weird thing about 6m, one never knows the true path.  Most 6m guys don't dare turn the beam if they are copying the station.  Like today, I was pointed at 120 degrees for the most part.  Then I would print stations in TX, AZ, CO, NE, IN, OH, and even CA!  When I pointed the beam direct, I would lose them!  Other times pointing the beam right at them works!

Boggles my mind to try and think about the path they are coming through on.

BTW, for fun I did switch to the Fan Dipole to see if I could hear the states off the beam better.  NO way, even off the side, back, etc.  The signals coming in were always better on the beam.

73 de jay..



________________________________
From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Dennis Schaefer <dennisw5rz at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2024 3:28 PM
To: ADXA <ADXA at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [ADXA] 6M yagi results

I got the 6m yagi up and did some A/B testing.  The antenna is an old MFJ 3 element beam that should probably be retired.  I intended to get it up about 18 feet, but with the materials on hand, it ended up at about 15 ft.

The other 6m antenna is a dipole up 45 feet.  I felt like it was a good antenna, but the yagi is much better so far.  I copied W5JAY and K5CM for awhile and the yagi was at least one S-unit better.  This morning, there were several HC stations on so I turned it South and the yagi was close to 10 db better.  It also was better for noise pickup in most directions.

The dipole has almost 3 db of feedline loss on 6 and the yagi is fed with hardline most of the way.  I'm sure that helps.

I dug out an old Ham-M rotator and installed it.  It's a small setup, but if 6 gets hot enough, it will add a few more band counters.

73,
Dennis/RZ
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