[Milsurplus] 50.400 AM: Is It Worth the Effort?

John McCarty jmccarty at lucent.com
Wed May 18 14:30:40 EDT 2005


Dave + All;

	Up here outside of Chicago, we run a 6 A.M. net every Weds night at 07:30.
What's interesting is that once in a while, out of the blue, someone will check
in from across the country. But, by the same token, I've called CQ on 50.4
during band openings to no available. Same results on 52.525 F.M. But, I have
had a little luck on 50.4 during contests. I think the problem is lack of
constant signals. You could call CQ for an hour, and the guy next door could do
the same, but unless it's the same hour, no contacts. I wonder if there's a way
to work 50.4 into some of the special events publicized on some of these list
such that there would be some local signals sometimes at least. I may spend some
time (and maybe waste some electrons) in the VHF tent on F.D. and see if I can
scare up anybody on 50.4


	Some time back I put a "pre-historic" implant in my TBY to lock it in at 50.4.
I say pre-historic 'cause it was taken from a CQ conversion article. I built it
on a a piece of perf board attached at right angles to a four pin tube sockets
so it could plug in to the crystal socket with out hacking the radio. If I
remember right, it used a single 1.5 volt 7 pin tube. Only had to lift two wires
on the orignal xmitter. But, I could never get quite enough grid drive (or so it
seemed) to get more than 1/2 a watt out. Could get close to a full watt before
the implant. Part of the problem may have been the lack out coil info in the
orginal article (typical CQ). But even with 1/2 watt into my vertical dipole on
the second floor, I could work stations out to about 10 miles no problem. It
would be interesting to see what kind of implant you come up with. 


											73



												n9hrt

David Stinson wrote:
> 
> One of the projects on the "back burner" for next fall
> is installing a non-destructive, reversable "Borg Implant(tm)"
> in each of my working TBYs to fix them to a TX frequency.
> I was thinking of putting them on
> the accepted "6 AM" channel of 50.4 MC.
> 
> There have been several good 6-meter openings here in
> the past couple of weeks.  I get to work them since I'm
> driving across my 200-mile territory so darn much of the time.
> I've listened to and called CQ on 50.4 AM many times
> and never heard so much as a single "peep," even when
> 50.125 SSB and 52.525 FM are full of calls.
> Moreover- I live near Dallas-Fort Worth, a major
> urban center, and 6 meters is minially active,
> even on SSB and FM.  I've heard doodly on AM.
> 
> Is it worth the trouble, since there seem to be
> no serious 50.4 AM operators?  Should I put them
> on 29.0 AM, or just forget it altogether and
> sell them to Marine Corps reenactors?
> Maybe 27.185- I'll certainly get replies there ;-).
> Once I've studied the technology and history of
> a radio (and I can do that with photos and
> documentation), I lose interest if I can't
> operate it.
> 
> I have other vintage 6 AM gear.
> If there is only "talk" about running 6 AM and
> no serious operators, I'd as soon unload them.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> 73 Dave S.
> 
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