[Elecraft] 6M CW

[David Gilbert]

I think the issue is that openings are often so brief on 6m that while 
you're exchanging pleasantries the guy waiting behind you is likely to 
end up with nothing.  That's the radio equivalent of having the guy in 
front of you in the left turn lane use up the entire arrow.

Just as in any other situation, it seems appropriate to me for folks to 
adapt their operating habits to the environment at hand but clearly not 
everyone views it that way.  I had never operated 6m before but last 
June (2009) I thought it might be fun to chase grids on Es.  I 
discovered that most of the activity was on SSB, and my experience after 
a few weeks effort was that a rather high percentage of the people I 
heard were in the mud by the time they finished chatting.  Not much fun 
in that for me and I haven't even bothered with it this year.  Waiting 
out propagation is one thing ... helplessly watching it go away is quite 
another.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 7/5/2010 1:37 PM, The Smiths wrote:
> Wow, someone else that agrees with me.
>
> 6 meters is a BIG disapointment.  You get on there and all you hear is stuff you could otherwise work with a 10' wire on 17 meters, and then all you get is a call sign and if you're lucky an RST.. Then before you can even say goodbye or 73 the other person has already gone.  What kind of enjoyment is that?  To each their own.. I'll save that kind of operation for Contesters...
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>> Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 12:29:59 -0700
>> From: wrcooke at yahoo.com
>> To: jim at audiosystemsgroup.com; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] 6M CW
>>
>> I don't feel that way at all.  A contact in which only grids are exchanged leaves me with little satisfaction at all.  I at least like to exchange names and QTH.  I get enough of the quicky QSOs with contests.  I don't need more on six meters or digital contacts.  I know I am out of step with the avant guarde, but I don't enjoy six meters much because of  these quick exchanges.
>>   Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
>> K5EWJ
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Jim Brown<jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
>> To: "elecraft at mailman.qth.net"<elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Mon, July 5, 2010 10:41:55 AM
>> Subject: [Elecraft] 6M CW
>>
>> On Mon, 5 Jul 2010 08:29:08 -0700 (PDT), Ken McGuire wrote:
>>
>>      
>>> I was frustrated at how slow the chats were on SSB (FM was even worse) -
>>> it seemed like they were wasting a perfectly good band opening ragchewing
>>>        
>> Yep. Same here. Often, an opening on any given path may be there only long
>> enough to exchange the grid and report. It's quite frustrating to wait to
>> call a station that was S9, then S7, then S5, then S3, then fumes, while
>> the time is filled with innanity.
>>
>>      
>>> When I turned down to the CW portion of the band, it almost sounded like
>>> a CW contest weekend.
>>>        
>> Yes. I've gotten to the point that I spend most of my 6M efforts on CW,
>> only tuning up to the SSB portion of the band when nothing is happening on
>> CW. And thanks in part to the proliferation of K3s, there is a lot more CW
>> activity than there was only 5 years ago.
>>
>> 73, Jim K9YC
>>