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6m Radio Fun


:( This is as far as I got with my 6m antenna yesterday. Spent half the day in the blistering sun tuning it. Next is the 12/17m yagi and the Explorer-14 and a few 2m antennas. I should be on the air by winter. :confused:

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At least my efforts were rewarded. :)

20160810_141811s.jpg
 
Don't worry. The tower is straight. The W I D E angle of the camera lens combined with the angle the pic was taken makes it look that way. The sun was so bright on the screen I could hardly see it when I took the pic.If it really leaned that bad it would be out many feet at the top. LOL
 
StrangeBrew said:
They always work better when you have to suffer while putting them up.;)
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Try standing at the top of a 64 foot tower with the unrelenting sun beating down on you and then have the wind pick up to a gale while you are still on it. Trust me there is still suffering in mid-summer too especially when the dark clouds move in and you hear thunder getting close. :eek:
 
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BJ radionut said:
CK where RU...I am working Canada like crazy!
VA2NQ/FN35
VE3ARF/FN25
VA2EQ/FN35
VE9CB/FN65:D
VA2SS/FN45
VA1KVT/GN29:)
and bunches of NE area...
VHF SPRINT
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In my living room watch Deadliest Catch. :( Just tuned the 6m yagi the other day in preparation of getting things installed before winter. It is now sitting by the shop waiting to get the 13B2's tuned, then the A3WS assembled and tuned and THEN the Explorer-14 assembled and tuned. :( I got the tuning close on the 6m antenna but I think it can stand another tweak. ;)

20160810_141811s.jpg
 
I was going to leave it on the pole but gong back to work tomorrow :( and didn't really want to leave it out on the lawn. That pole will have an Explorer-14 with 40m kit on it in the next couple weeks anyway. I work the next four days, then move mom and dad into an apartment and clean up the next four days I have off (they just sold the house) and then another four days of work and THEN the Ex-14 gets put together and tuned. :confused:
 
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Captain Kilowatt said:
In my living room watch Deadliest Catch. :( Just tuned the 6m yagi the other day in preparation of getting things installed before winter. It is now sitting by the shop waiting to get the 13B2's tuned, then the A3WS assembled and tuned and THEN the Explorer-14 assembled and tuned. :( I got the tuning close on the 6m antenna but I think it can stand another tweak. ;)

View attachment 18549
Click to expand...
Get it better - HOW?

If you were playing with a CB radio, where the whole shooting match took place on less than 1/2 of 1 MHz, then you would be looking for a low SWR somewhere in the middle of the band. Somewhere around channel 19. When you only have a couple of legal watts to play with, then you have to be a little conservative with the power you got.
When you can play with as much as 1500 watts on 6 meters, then what does it matter?
As long as your SWR is less than 2:1 everywhere on the band where you intend to operate, low SWR really doesn't matter, and because amateur radio is not channelized, there is no perfect frequency to tune to for 6 meters.
Most radio calling frequencies are somewhere around the center of the band.
If you intended to operate both CW and Phone, then 50.125 would be a good starting point. But as far as I can see, the band plan has gone out the window with the digital morons that decided that their allotment of frequency was not enough, and they have moved up to somewhere around 50.276 MHz - running mostly JT 65. Why I haven't been able to figure out.
There is no reason, other than vanity to try to achieve 1:1 on 6 meters on an exact frequency, unless that is the one frequency you plan to camp out on.
My homemade 5 element antenna showed a VSWR of 3:1 at 50.125 MHz and I made hundreds of contacts with it with just 50 watts. With low loss cable, the loss rate even at 3:1 VSWR isn't anything to worry about.
Since noise is inverse the square of the frequency, and 50 MHz is higher in frequency than 10 meters, power is less relevant than it is on 10, which is less relevant than power is on 10 compared to 20 meters.
I think power isn't really a factor until you get up into 75 or 80 meters..
If I had my choice between power and height, I would take height every time.
 
Soup-man said:
Get it better - HOW?

If you were playing with a CB radio, where the whole shooting match took place on less than 1/2 of 1 MHz, then you would be looking for a low SWR somewhere in the middle of the band. Somewhere around channel 19. When you only have a couple of legal watts to play with, then you have to be a little conservative with the power you got.
When you can play with as much as 1500 watts on 6 meters, then what does it matter?
As long as your SWR is less than 2:1 everywhere on the band where you intend to operate, low SWR really doesn't matter, and because amateur radio is not channelized, there is no perfect frequency to tune to for 6 meters.
Most radio calling frequencies are somewhere around the center of the band.
If you intended to operate both CW and Phone, then 50.125 would be a good starting point. But as far as I can see, the band plan has gone out the window with the digital morons that decided that their allotment of frequency was not enough, and they have moved up to somewhere around 50.276 MHz - running mostly JT 65. Why I haven't been able to figure out.
There is no reason, other than vanity to try to achieve 1:1 on 6 meters on an exact frequency, unless that is the one frequency you plan to camp out on.
My homemade 5 element antenna showed a VSWR of 3:1 at 50.125 MHz and I made hundreds of contacts with it with just 50 watts. With low loss cable, the loss rate even at 3:1 VSWR isn't anything to worry about.
Since noise is inverse the square of the frequency, and 50 MHz is higher in frequency than 10 meters, power is less relevant than it is on 10, which is less relevant than power is on 10 compared to 20 meters.
I think power isn't really a factor until you get up into 75 or 80 meters..
If I had my choice between power and height, I would take height every time.
Click to expand...

I really get a chuckle out of people that upon failing to see the humour in a post become unglued and start preaching to the choir about something. Not that I feel that I have to justify my comment but nevertheless I will. IT WAS SAID IN JEST. OK now that that is cleared up I will address your points. First off my legal limit on 6m is 2250 watts pep or if I decide to run AM mode it could be as much as 750 watts of carrier or 3000 watts pep on AM mode. I am NOT regulated by the FCC. My amplifier is capable of 1200 watts pep on 6m however since it is not a regular commercial amp per-say, but rather a solid-state Larcan Lo-Lo band television amplifier module modified for 6m and it expects to see a very low SWR then I am compelled to provide it with as low an SWR as I am capable of. My usual operating range is in the lower 250KHz of the band and that is where my antenna is tuned for. The bandwidth of the antenna is fairly narrow, moreso than most commercial 6m yagis. It is optimized for forward gain not bandwidth. Any calling frequencies I am interested in fall within that range. The fact that I can design and build an antenna that can be tuned to 51R+/-J0 should be of no concern to anybody but myself or possibly someone that wants to copy it for themselves. I made MANY MANY contacts with 10-12 watts from a Ten Tec 1208 transverter I bought as a kit. I am quite familiar what a few watts will do on 6m. As for your 3:1 I would not jam 1200 watts from my amp into that regardless of the quality of the feedline. I value the MRF151G FET modules too much to do that. BTW feedline here is all LDF4-50 on all bands 160 thru 2m. I use it because I have it and I have it because the price was right. FREE.As for power versus height, the antenna will be at about 72 feet and fed with up to 1200 watts depending on propagation and QRM conditions. IOW a little bit of both worlds.
 
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Soup-man said:
... But as far as I can see, the band plan has gone out the window with the digital morons that decided that their allotment of frequency was not enough, and they have moved up to somewhere around 50.276 MHz - running mostly JT 65. Why I haven't been able to figure out...


I think power isn't really a factor until you get up into 75 or 80 meters...
Click to expand...


HUH??? Well just where else on 6 is data supposed to operate?



you say it has moved "up",......just where have "they" moved UP from?


Data is not allowed BELOW 50.1

between 50.1 and SSB calling freq???......... thats the DX window.

perhaps you should review the 6 meter band plan.

BTW,.... from 6 meters, 75 and/or 80 is "down"


that "noise is inverse the square of the frequency" isn't about RADIO FREQUENCIES,.... its about SOUND frequency and ACOUSTICS,.................. epic fail
 
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