Keith,
You'll have much better success with a small yagi than with a vertical. A
three-element yagi (Cushcraft 3-element is cheap) will have wide enough a
beamwidth so you can get away (most of the time) without rotating it. At least
this will give you a taste of what it's like. :-)
90% of the 6m activity in the US is USB. When the band is strongly open, there
is also some CW activity. AM and FM are also used by some, but up the band
above 50400 kHz. Some urban areas support one or more 6m FM repeaters. But for
basic weak-signal work, it's 90% upper-sideband phone. This may be different
in EU -- I've heard there is more CW activity there -- but that's how it is
here.
Know the USA/Canada band plan. The national calling frequency is 50125. You
can monitor this frequency and get a good idea most of the time when the band
opens. You can also look for CW beacons 50060 to 50080 in the US, sometimes
below 50060 in Mexico and elsewhere. When the band is open, do not hold QSOs
on 50125, even though you may hear others doing so. QSOs within the USA/Canada
should be held above 50125. Stay below 50240, as then you're getting into the
WSJT digital meteor-scatter area, which is centered on 50260. Below 50125 is
considered the "DX window". It is (mostly) agreed that USA/Canada stations
will NOT call CQ DX n this window, but can call or answer CQs from DX
stations. CW activity is of course legal anywhere, but tends to happen from
the top of the beacon band (50080) to about 50100. Stations running SSB above
50125 will oftentimes switch to CW on the fly if weak-signal conditions
require it.
Know your maidenhead grid square. A basic QSO on 6m consists of report, grid
square, name.
Useful URLs:
http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA
http://dxworld.com/50prop.html
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/50.htm
http://www.6mt.com/
http://www.smirk.org/
That's it on a thumbnail. Have fun!
Bill W5WVO
Darwin, Keith wrote:
I've never been on 6. Never. My K3 will cover it so I'm gonna give
it a try.
What do I need for an antenna? Will a multi-band vertical like the
Hy-Gain AV-620 give good performance on 6 meters? Should I put up a 2
or 3 element yagi? I'm lazy and very busy so building something just
isn't really in the cards right now. If I do the yagi thing, I'll
have no rotor so I'll just point the antenna one direction and leave
it. Living in VT, I can point it a bit south of west and cover a big
chunk of the US. A 2 element yagi would give a wider pattern and
might be workable.
What modes? I assume CW is just fine on that band or does everyone
run SSB or FM?
- Keith N1AS -
- K2 5411.ssb.100 -
- K3 maybe next week? -
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