[Elecraft] K3 on 6 Meters

[David Yarnes]

There hasn't been much discussion about using the K3 on 6 meters.  I suppose 
that is mainly due to the fact that 6 meters is pretty much "hibernating" 
right now.  I have only made a couple of contacts locally on 6 meters with 
the K3, so I can't say much about how it performed.

The other day I was chatting with my friend Jim Duffey, KK6MC, who does like 
to tinker with 6 meters when it perks up.  He knows I don't really have a 
good 6 meter antenna, and he gave me the task of building one.  He thinks in 
a month or so things will liven up on 6, and he wants to try and work me on 
that band.  His suggestion was to build a Moxen antenna, and he referred me 
to N2MH's website for a good design.  See www.n2mh.net.

It looked simple enough, so I went down to Home Depot and found some angle 
aluminum like N2MH had used.  It wasn't exactly cheap--about $35 for what I 
needed, but that's not terrible.  With hardware, etc. I probably have about 
$45 in the thing.  I probably could have done better if I knew where to 
shop.

Anyway, the antenna goes together pretty easily, and preliminary testing 
seems to be positive.  I still need to add a good coax connector, but that 
won't be difficult.  It's a pretty compact antenna, and should be easily 
supported on just about any kind of pole or mast.  You get some gain, and 
some directivity too.  It's not fancy, but I thought others might be 
interested in giving 6 meters a try with their K3's.  If you are like me, 
and didn't have an antenna, here is something you can do fairly easily.  If 
you aren't into building, you might take a look at the "stressed Moxon" sold 
by Par Electronics.

Unfortunately, I may be talking to myself on 6 meters for the time being, 
but Jim assures me that things should "start happening" on that band pretty 
soon.  So, now is the time to get ready.  In the meantime, I plan to put 
this thing up in the air a little bit, and see what I might hear.  It may 
only be locals, but even that should work out better than with my R8 (which 
does cover 6 meters) since the Moxon will be horizontally polarized.  That 
seems to be the choice among folks around here.

Dave W7AQK