[Elecraft] 6m......just my thoughts

[Jim Brown]

My interest in 6M goes back to that memorable solar cycle around 1958, 
when from my QTH in WV I worked ZS in the morning, W6, in the afternoon, 
KH6 a bit later with a ground plane and 25W AM. As an active CW op on 
HF, I had great fun keying my 2E26 rig to work AU. 40 years later, I 
enjoyed 6M from Chicago, working about 240 grids over about 3 seasons 
with 100W and a pair of loops at 40 ft.  Since moving to NorCal in 2006, 
I've been active on 6M again, and worked grid #300 from this QTH this 
summer.  My 6M activity is about 75% CW, but I also work SSB and Joe 
Taylor's WSJT modes.

Before I had a SteppIR Yagi here in CA, I made at least a dozen 
double-hop E-skip QSOs to the east coast and KH6 loading 100W into an 
80/40M fan dipole.  The SteppIR with the KPA500 is a nice step up, and 
I've got 12 countries confirmed, including VE, XE, KL7, KH6, ZL, VK, JA, 
and a few S Pacific islands.

With that perspective, what you can work on 6M depends VERY strongly on 
where you live. Over the last 3-4 summers, there have been MANY, MANY 
openings to EU from east of the Mississippi River, a few that got 
farther west, and a handful to SoCal. I don't remember a single opening 
to EU from NorCal in the 7 years I've lived here. Those east of the MS 
river also get openings into the Caribbean and South America that we 
don't get here.  Those openings to KL7, VK, ZL, and the S Pacific have 
happened no more than a half dozen times since I've lived here, they 
tend to be quite short, and I've been on the air for them twice.

This is the best place I've found to monitor 6M propagation and activity.

http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php?Frec=50&Map=NA

WSJT modes are coordinated on sites like 
http://www.on4kst.com/chat/start.php   and 
http://www.pingjockey.net/cgi-bin/pingtalk

73, Jim K9YC

On 2/26/2014 2:09 PM, Jeff Stai wrote:
> True, but when I lived in so cal I managed to work most of SA and the
> pacific rim as well as 48 states (missed AR and NJ) with that three
> element. Not that forlorn. 73 jeff wk6i
>
> On Wednesday, February 26, 2014, Keith Heimbold<ag6az at hotmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> >Not to rain on the folks in Europe or eastern US or even Texas but 6m is a
>> >totally different animal out west.  It is still super fun but we get about
>> >1/4 or less of the openings of these other regions. So yes put up a 3
>> >element antenna but don't expect to even come close to those DX numbers.
>> >Still it is very enjoyable when the band opens, but go into this with eyes
>> >wide open.
>> >