[SixClub] New to Six Meters

[Steve Katz]

Hi Rich,

My comments weren't aimed at you, they were in response to the original post
about 6m antennas, and for general delivery for list members.

No problem with what you posted, at all -- although I always "encourage"
people to put all their marbles in the antenna basket, ahead of any other
investments in six meters or weak signal VHF work in general, as the R.O.I.
with antennas is by far higher than with any other station improvement any
of us can make.  I doubt anyone would disagree!

73

Steve WB2WIK/6

-----Original Message-----
From: RICHARD BOYD [mailto:ke3q at msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 11:20 AM
To: World Wide Six Meter Club; 'Mike (KA5CVH) Urich'
Subject: Re: [SixClub] New to Six Meters


I stand by what I said.  I see no contradiction.  73 - Rich, KE3Q


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Katz" <stevek at jmr.com>
To: "'World Wide Six Meter Club'" <sixclub at mailman.qth.net>; "'Mike (KA5CVH)

Urich'" <ka5cvh at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 1:30 PM
Subject: RE: [SixClub] New to Six Meters


> I've written this many times, but some missed it and for some I think it
> just doesn't sink in.  VHF is very different from HF.  If you want to make
> contacts only when the "band's open" on six, you won't be busy very many
> days a year.  Having good antennas is mostly for the *OTHER* 340 days a
> year, when the band is *not* open.  Since most VHF-UHF contacts are tropo
> scatter, a mode that can propagate signals very long distances only when
> larger antennas are used (or operating locations are greatly advantageous,
> like being on a mountaintop), every small antenna improvement can yield
> large, noticeable improvements in working radius.  Here's why "working
> radius" is important:
>
> Say you have a 6m vertical and a 100W station and can usually work other
> stations within a 50 mile radius.  With 6m activity and population density
> as it is, that means you can regularly work 20 stations.  Now, you improve
> to a horizontal rotary beam antenna and find you can usually work other
> stations within a 200 mile radius (not an unusual change).  Now, you've 
> just
> improved your "coverage area" from 7854 square miles (50 mile radius) to a
> whopping 125,664 square miles (200 mile radius).  Assuming population
> density remains equal, and number of 6m operators per square mile remains
> equal, you've just increased how many stations you can regularly hear and
> work, from 20 to 320.  Yes, twenty to three-hundred twenty.  So, you've
> multiplied the number of stations you can routinely contact by a factor of
> 16 to 1, simply by adding a small beam.
>
> This is *not* an unusual improvement, by any means.  Remember, 90% of all
> stations you can contact on six meters *will* be "weak," fairly close to 
> the
> noise level.  That's the nature of VHF SSB-CW work, and what makes it
> interesting and exciting in the first place.  It doesn't matter what you
> run, how big your antenna is, or where you're located, this fact remains:
> 90% of your contacts will be "weak."  As you improve your station, your
> antennas, your location, the QUANTITY of weak stations you can work will
> increase dramatically, but 90% will still be weak -- there will just be a
> lot more of them.
>
> And geometry's a powerful thing.  When you increase your working radius, 
> you
> increase the number of stations you can contact by the square of the 
> radius.
> A two to one increase in radius yields a four to one increase in the
> population you can contact.  A three to one increase in radius yields a
> *nine* to one increase in the population you can contact.  It's simple 
> math,
> but easy to forget when you're considering antenna changes.
>
> I have a 7L 6m horizontal beam on a tower, and also a "Ringo" 6m vertical
> (1/2-wavelength, works well for FM-repeaters -- far better than the
> horizontal beam, actually, since it has compatible polarity) on the roof 
> of
> my home.  If I tune around on six, on an average Sunday morning, turning 
> the
> beam around listening for weak stations, I can usually hear 10-20 stations
> on the band (no openings, no contests!).  If I switch to the vertical, 
> that
> quantity drops to maybe two or three stations.  Big difference.
>
> 73 & good luck!
>
> Steve WB2WIK/6
>
>
>
>
>
>
> It's a question of how big a signal you want to have, and that's at least 
> in
>
> part relative to what sort of signals others have.  The larger an antenna
> you go to (more accurately, the more effective, the more gain and other
> factors, but let's say gain as the most obvious one -- and height above
> ground, how high the antenna will be) the greater your ability to get
> through when conditions don't quite favor you, when the band isn't quite
> open, or isn't all the way open, etc., and if you have one of the smaller
> stations or signals, you may have to wait for many, many others to get
> through to a DX station before you get through.  If you just want to talk 
> to
>
> your buddy a few miles away, it doesn't take much.  If you want to work
> DXCC, get through on the first call to rare stations, etc. you might want 
> to
>
> upgrade a little at a time, etc., which is what most of us have done.
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> SixClub mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sixclub
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/faq.htm
> Post: mailto:SixClub at mailman.qth.net
> 
______________________________________________________________
SixClub mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sixclub
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/faq.htm
Post: mailto:SixClub at mailman.qth.net