[Elecraft] 6 Meter Questions - OT

[Bill W5WVO]

Keith,

You'll have much better success with a small yagi than with a vertical. A 
three-element yagi (Cushcraft 3-element is cheap) will have wide enough a 
beamwidth so you can get away (most of the time) without rotating it. At least 
this will give you a taste of what it's like. :-)

90% of the 6m activity in the US is USB. When the band is strongly open, there 
is also some CW activity. AM and FM are also used by some, but up the band 
above 50400 kHz. Some urban areas support one or more 6m FM repeaters. But for 
basic weak-signal work, it's 90% upper-sideband phone. This may be different 
in EU -- I've heard there is more CW activity there -- but that's how it is 
here.

Know the USA/Canada band plan. The national calling frequency is 50125. You 
can monitor this frequency and get a good idea most of the time when the band 
opens. You can also look for CW beacons 50060 to 50080 in the US, sometimes 
below 50060 in Mexico and elsewhere. When the band is open, do not hold QSOs 
on 50125, even though you may hear others doing so. QSOs within the USA/Canada 
should be held above 50125. Stay below 50240, as then you're getting into the 
WSJT digital meteor-scatter area, which is centered on 50260. Below 50125 is 
considered the "DX window". It is (mostly) agreed that USA/Canada stations 
will NOT call CQ DX n this window, but can call or answer CQs from DX 
stations. CW activity is of course legal anywhere, but tends to happen from 
the top of the beacon band (50080) to about 50100. Stations running SSB above 
50125 will oftentimes switch to CW on the fly if weak-signal conditions 
require it.

Know your maidenhead grid square. A basic QSO on 6m consists of report, grid 
square, name.

Useful URLs:
http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA
http://dxworld.com/50prop.html
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/50.htm
http://www.6mt.com/
http://www.smirk.org/

That's it on a thumbnail. Have fun!

Bill W5WVO


Darwin, Keith wrote:
> I've never been on 6.  Never.  My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give
> it a try.
>
> What do I need for an antenna?  Will a multi-band vertical like the
> Hy-Gain AV-620 give good performance on 6 meters?  Should I put up a 2
> or 3 element yagi?  I'm lazy and very busy so building something just
> isn't really in the cards right now.  If I do the yagi thing, I'll
> have no rotor so I'll just point the antenna one direction and leave
> it. Living in VT, I can point it a bit south of west and cover a big
> chunk of the US.  A 2 element yagi would give a wider pattern and
> might be workable.
>
> What modes?  I assume CW is just fine on that band or does everyone
> run SSB or FM?
>
> - Keith N1AS -
> - K2 5411.ssb.100 -
> - K3 maybe next week? -
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