[Elecraft] FD & 6 Meters

[grif80128 at comcast.net]

Message: 22 
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2016 00:56:16 -0400 
From: "Gary Smith" < Gary at ka1j.com > 
Message-ID: < 57720370.25109.21C12AA at Gary.ka1j.com > 

" Extracts: I've never worked any 6M contacts until Field Day...my 
160 sloper with my K3s ... 6M from SE Connecticut 
was only open to the 4th call area. ...What I found difficult was the intelligibility of many of the 6M 
stations; many sounded almost like they were on LSB but they were on 
USB. There was little to understand and it seemed like their signal 
was maybe compressed. Others were clear as a bell but I only worked a 
few as my amp is 160-10. I'm guessing some of the radios must have 
had a problem, I thought it might be indicative of 6M contacts till I 
heard the clear stations. But well more than half were impossible to 
tune in easily." -Gary KA1J 
  
Gary, I ran our 6 Meter station for the W0NT 7E effort using my K3S, the first time, and the 
club's 5 element yagi. Propagation is always a crap shoot on 6M. This year was characterized 
at our site by popcorn openings-an opening that seemed to explode open with a station's call and then 
disappear as quickly. The openings were sporatic. Heard IL, WI and actually worked a few TN stations.. 
Some audio signals were garbled, like aurora, EME, or long path and were very hard to copy. I had no 
large openings that would have allowed me to test the filtering capabilities of the K3S! Darn!!!! Roughly 
25 contacts for 24 hrs...not up to expectations! No Es into California, which was running the past few 
days before FD. Perhaps the yagi was too much antenna. A simple 6M dipole might have been a 
better choice. Thought about constructing one during the exercise but didn't want to miss any time 
away from the radio. Plenty of time to hone the antennas and technique between now and next FD. 
  
Jim 
KC0TRK