tru this site
he has the best price on loops that i have seen
http://ku4ab.com/_wsn/page3.html
but if you want the best antenna you need a yagi
good luck

wrote:
Have decided to pull out the IC736 and put it back into service and start
rebuilding the Ant farm

will hang a DX-CC and keep the Diamond dual bander. but am interested in
working skip or DX in 6m as it appears that a lot of people are having a lot of
fun doing it. actually, I would like to try to nail service with a town up
about 600 mi NW of me and doing it with 6m just seems like a hoot to me.

I have been looking at reviews on the PAR OA-50 and the KB6KQ 6M Loop
any comments on those.

or any other suggestions??

thanks
chas



...

Chas-- these are all the equivelant of a dipole bent in a circle for
more or less omni directional- and they perform about equallly.
One consideration is they often change SWR , in wet weather.,
but that is more a consideration for a mobile operator. M Squared
also makes a version , and see :

http://jonz.net/W3DHJ/6mhalo.html

and, : http://www.qsl.net/k4pwo/sloop.htm

if you want to give home brewing one a try. These are NOT gain
antennas, but on even medieocre openings on six, can work quite
a few folks. For more effective antennas, a yagi is recommended.
Have fun on six. Been there, and done that for over 40 years.
Jim NN7K


wrote:
Have decided to pull out the IC736 and put it back into service and start
rebuilding the Ant farm

will hang a DX-CC and keep the Diamond dual bander. but am interested in
working skip or DX in 6m as it appears that a lot of people are having a lot of
fun doing it. actually, I would like to try to nail service with a town up
about 600 mi NW of me and doing it with 6m just seems like a hoot to me.

I have been looking at reviews on the PAR OA-50 and the KB6KQ 6M Loop
any comments on those.

or any other suggestions??

thanks
chas



...

wrote:


HOW do you work 6m? skipping to a 6m repeater about a 1,000 mi away and hoping
the fellow in 40m range can also reach that repeater?
or is it all straight, plain DX with the right conditions??

iow, what makes this fun? other than antennae, etc... and the Txcvr -- what
else do I need for this game? and which way should I be going with this?
SSB, FM or CW?

finally, is there a 6m discussion list, forum, whatever???

thanks
chas
K5DAM


SSB and CW are the modes you will want to use. The US SSB call
frequency is 50.125, with the DX window below that. Some available
propogation modes are troposcatter, F, E, aurora, auroral-E. Six is the
band where almost all enhancements shop up occasionally. When the band
is open, it's often wide open. Don't be discouraged if you don't hear
anything for days or weeks. It's a lot like fishing. There are also
seasons for some propogation types. You will soon see more E as we get
into late spring.

And listen for beacons; sometimes the band is open, and no one notices
for a while. Here are a couple links for beacons -
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/50.htm
http://www.g0che.co.uk/beacons.html

tom
K0TAR

Some good books on six meters.

See World Radio Magazine -- URL: http://www.wr6wr.com/
Six Meters, A Guide to the Magic Band, (revised) by Ken Neubeck, WB2AMU
------

From The ARRL: http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?categor...ds=propagation
VHF Propagation-- A Practical Guide for Radio Amateurs by Ken Neubeck,
WB2AMU & Gordon West, WB6NOA
-----

HF+6M DXing DX101x From AC6V
http://ac6v.com/DXSAMPLE.htm

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !


HOW do you work 6m? skipping to a 6m repeater about a 1,000 mi away and
hoping
the fellow in 40m range can also reach that repeater?
or is it all straight, plain DX with the right conditions??

iow, what makes this fun? other than antennae, etc... and the Txcvr --
what
else do I need for this game? and which way should I be going with this?
SSB, FM or CW?

finally, is there a 6m discussion list, forum, whatever???

thanks
chas
K5DAM

Chas-

Tom Ring wrote:

SSB and CW are the modes you will want to use. The US SSB call
frequency is 50.125, with the DX window below that. Some available
propogation modes are troposcatter, F, E, aurora, auroral-E. Six is the
band where almost all enhancements shop up occasionally. When the band
is open, it's often wide open. Don't be discouraged if you don't hear
anything for days or weeks. It's a lot like fishing. There are also
seasons for some propogation types. You will soon see more E as we get
into late spring.


Tom is correct, and also remember : that for FM, transmissions are
USUALLY vertically polarized (I say that because ALL fm activity
for repeaters uses vertical whips, tho in an opening, anything works).
These loops are horizontally polarized). Dont expect much in the way of
F2, or TE, for about another 8-9 years (we are on a decline in the
sunspots), but Es is the bread and butter of the six meter operator,
and as Tom says, most activity is on CW, and SSB , tho I expect that
the new digital modes will start showing up more regularly.
That opens up another can of worms, as the CW segment of 6 meters
(50.000-50.100) ,unlike all other bands (except 2 meters), is
A-1 ONLY (at least in the U.S.)! This forces these new digital modes
up to around 50.26-.29 vacinity. Another frequency to note is 50.110
this is for the DX calling freq- read that as NON US-CANADA If you hear
someone there, is is a pretty safe bet that it is a foreign station.

As to what is being heard on six meters, try :
http://www.dxworld.com/50prop.html
A real time prop. logger for 6 meters
OH2BUA has similar, but mainly followed by Europeans. Six meters will
start opening eS on a regular basis probably by the middle of april
and peaking out in August. and there is also another 2-3 week peak
around the winter solstice, but 6 can open at ANY TIME !
And one of the charms of it iswhen it opens , even the low power
stations can work a lot. Normally, 6 activity on SSB doesn't get much
above 50 250 (unless its a real barnburner of an opening). A fun band
to operate. Jim NN7K

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 12:01:35 -0600, wrote:



thanks to all again. still want to go look for an elist or other on 6m.

cheers
chas
K5DAM

Just do a google search for "6 meters" -- lots of sites & lists

bob
k5qwg




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