On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:18:07 -0700, "David Yarnes" <w7...@cox.net> wrote:
It's even more fun and more DX productive on CW and a better DX mode than SSB (My opinion ;o)). I easily worked Japan from Texas this evening with 100 watts K3 and 5 element Yagi-Udah. BT 73 ES GUD LUK DE N5GE, QCWA LIFE MEMBER 35102 AR SK n...@n5ge.com http://www.n5ge.com >Hi All, > >I seem to be digging myself a bigger and bigger hole called 6 meters! First >I just decided to see what could be heard on that band. Not much--at least >at first. But then I got a dose of sporadic E, and things started getting a >bit more interesting. Then one of my friends talked me into building a >moxon antenna. That was fun, and pretty easy. The antenna seems to do a >pretty good job. So, I said to myself, if a simple moxon works that well, a >4 element beam ought to be almost as easy to build, and work even better! > >That was all over the last 12 to 18 months. Then came the June VHF contest >(last week), and some very good sporadic E--better than last year! >Actually, there were a couple of sprints in between, which weren't all that >productive, but right now 6 meters is humming pretty good! My K3 does very >well, and I even use my R7 vertical much of the time (omni-directional) with >surprisingly good results. > >I read some of the archives about 6 meter activity with the K3, and noticed >a lot of commentary about the K3 being perhaps a bit light on 6 meter >receive. Well, a PR6 pre-amp might take care of that! It does! I just >added that little accessory, and the results are impressive. Not something >you need for every QSO, but now I'm hearing stuff I couldn't even detect >previously. Lots of additional oomph without raising the noise level very >much at all. Very nifty product. > >Point is, I'm getting a little too intrigued with this for my own good! Is >there a 12 step program out there for this? Fortunately (?) I'm deed >restricted, so there won't be any towers and stacked arrays going up! Hi. >There's even some pretty active CW operation at times--I like that! > >Bottom line--if you haven't put your toe in the water on 6 yet, do it! You >probably have an antenna that will work fine, and don't realize it. If you >have a K3, and like what you hear initially, get a PR6 pre-amp. Problem is >that the sporadic E only lasts for a while, then goes away for several >months. But there's a lot more going on with 6 meters, even during the down >times, than I realized. If you have a radio that will do 6 meters, the rest >is pretty easy. > >Dave W7AQK > > >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html