[NLRS] The New (AB)Normal?

[Rich Westerberg]

John - It is frustrating to see all the spots on DX Maps and also hear the
activity on 50.313 and then call and call and call on .125 with only a few
responders.  I've got 100 watts and four elements so I know I can do it.
I've got all 50 states and 41 countries with SSB and CW but I fear the
quest for DXCC on SSB/CW will never happen.

I'm going to wade slowly back into VHF.  I've got an FT991 and also an
FT736.  I was going to get the 222 module for the 736 so I'd have the lower
four bands all set.  Grab amps and preamps for the bands and be ready.  I
think right now I'll focus on 50 & 144, get decent power and good antennas
and then see if activity warrants me spending the money on the next two
bands.

A good test will be the June Contest coming up in a few weeks.  I'm hoping
for good activity then!

Rich

On Sun, May 31, 2020 at 9:57 AM John Kalenowsky <hamk9jk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Didn't you hear, Rich, Microphones and Keys are now banned on 6 meters! The
> radio manufacturers have recently announced that they will no longer be
> including Microphones with their radios and removing the Key jacks. As
> well, there will only be ONE frequency which can be used on 6 meters,
> 50.313 MHz.
> *J*ust *K*idding - but my experiences are similar, Rich.
> I was pleasantly surprised to make 101 Qs on 6 meters in the recent Spring
> Sprint and ALL were on SSB. Admittedly, about half of those Qs (49) were
> with other rovers who were out locally and even the fixed stations were
> predominantly local (39 of 52) but I *did* manage to get two new states for
> my 2019-2020 States Above 50 MHz from among those 13 stations contacted
> that were beyond EN51, 52, 61, 62 (Maine and Nebraska and I did work a few
> other New England states).
>
> Sadly, I am starting to feel that a 'side effect' of the spotting networks
> is to 'amplify' the interest in FT-8 (and other new 'digi-modes') as a
> result of the ability to 'autoreport' digi-mode QSOs to the spotting
> networks while an SSB QSO has to be manually reported. This leads to
> resources like dxmaps making it appear that the ONLY activity on 6 meters
> is now FT-8. Another frustration is that, even though there are MANY FT8
> QSOs reported with negative s/n, many ARE reported with POSITIVE s/n
> (double digit positive, even) which should easily support an SSB QSO to
> completed over the same path.
>
> Is there a solution? I don't know.
>
> - Get on and constantly call CQ on 50.125?
>
> - Try and establish a time of day (top of every hour? top of every even or
> odd hour?) to check the 'analog' part of the 6 meter band? And NOT JUST
> during contests. This would be like the "FM Activity Times" that I think
> have been effective up around the Twin Cities during contests (or am I
> mistaken on that?).
>
> - Other ideas?
>
> 73, JK (K9, that is)
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