[Elecraft] Re: 6 meters

[Jeff Stai WK6I]

ah! - my favorite subject...

At 08:42 PM 4/21/2002, Rod N0RC wrote:
>Folks,
>
>Seems like it is getting to be that time of year for 6m to be real
>active. Until last year I never worked 6m, but by shear random luck, I
>hit the right time and enjoyed a few psk, cw and ssb QSOs. I'd like to
>try it again this year.
>
>1. When should I start paying close attention to 6m? time of day,
>month...etc.

Complicated question #1: I monitor 6m whenever I can. I have worked openings 
from dawn to well into the night. Worked Hawaii first time at 10pm. You can 
get backscatter at dawn. It just depends.



>2. What conditions should I watch for on
>http://www.sel.noaa.gov/today.html that indicate 6m may be open?

Complicated question #2:

- around the solstices you get sporadic E (Es), which is good for stateside.

- around the equinoces you get transequatorial Es, which opens up to south 
america.

- at the top of the sunspot cycle (high SFI), you get F propagation.

- if the sun acts up (coronal mass ejection) you can get aurora.

- you can work meteor scatter during a major shower.

Sometimes a high A-index can be a good indicator of the possibility of an 
opening.

There is really no good reliable indicator for Es - thunderstorms and comet 
debris have been hypothsized, but as far as I know, nothing proven.

A better site to monitor might be one or both of these:

http://dxworld.com/magicband.html
http://dxworld.com/50prop.html

These post real time spots of contacts and indicators (like commercial 
broadcast signals).

You can also keep an ear on 28.885.

DX Summit spots are useful because you can see what is happening outside of 
your area. Recently, I watched an opening to VP8 go across north america - I 
started monitoring around the VP8's spotted frequency, and it paid off; but 
if I had waited for a local spot, I would have missed it.



>3. Where is the action (what freq(s)) for : CW, PSK and SSB?  (SRI to
>have to ask, lost the notes I made last year)

I can't tell you about PSK, but basically you get DX SSB from about 50.105 
and up - 50.110 is the "DX calling freq" but DX could be anywhere. Domestic 
calls on SSB are above 50.125.

CW is everywhere - in general, domestic CW is above 50.125 and/or below 
50.100. DX CW could anywhere above 50.080. The reason CW is everywhere has 
more to do with shifting band conditions - a station will call on one 
frequency and change modes as conditions improve or deteriorate. I have more 
than once worked a station SSB and then returned a few minutes later to the 
same freq to work that same station on CW. I have also been calling on SSB 
and been answered on CW - time to grab the key to complete the contact!

That said, most "pure" CW will start at 50.099 and grow down to 50.080 as 
needed.

I can recommend two resources - first, "Six Meters, A Guide to The Magic 
Band" by Ken Neubeck, WB2AMU is definitely a must (from 
http://www.wr6wr.com/). I can also recommend, if you really want to stay 
current, "Six News" from the UK Six Metre Group (see http://www.uksmg.org/ - 
also a great web site!).

hope all this helps a little! - 73 - jeff wk6i



>73, Rod N0RC
>Ft Collins, CO

Jeff Stai       Twisted Oak Winery LLC
Email           jds@twistedoak.com
Amateur Radio   WK6I
ROC Web Page    http://www.rocstock.org/