6m is open of course...

[VE7NOT]

Who were there...quite few...

I had an older ham tell me last year 6m is useless as it only opens a few hours at a time in summer.

I know.. but will all due respect for old timers.. that is crap....

I brought a 6m/2m/70cm beam.. hoping to use the three long elements for 6m.... and tonight I did a few times...

Yeah 6m was open.. I had no trouble with 10-15w and a 3element beam working a good contact in San Diego as well as others contacts mostly in Cali.

But hold it.. how do I know 6m is open.. oh that's too easy see.. 11m is monitored here on the family channnel and if I hear dx on 11m and it;s strong.

.........time to try cq on 10 and 6. Not that hard. :cool:

Oh I forgot everything above 20m is useless...:confused:

In that case who is the hams that by wonderful $ 10000 radios that work on 6m and you never hear them?

[k7mh]

6 is a fun band but it isn't "open" very much of the time at all. You are in the sporadic E season right now but it can pop up at other times of the year. The GOOD stuff, F layer propagation, is a few years away at best. At worst, it will never happen on 6 this coming cycle. Just depends. Even if it does it will be kinda flaky and wont be often or for lengthy periods of the day, week, month or certainly year. I was on 6 A LOT during the more stellar openings in 1981, and fewer in 82. You will probably not in your lifetime see openings like that again. You may...but don't count on it!!
Working CA on any band around here is a yawn. But yes it is an opening. Working JA's on 6 is a yawn if you were around in 1981!! I have around 300 or so 6 meter JA cards from back then.
We had JA's on 6 last weekend. I just listened around.
Just because people have 6 meters on a 10K$ rig doesn't mean they care about being on that band. No one ever bought a rig like that just to be on 6 meters!
You've got a lot to learn about 6 meters grasshopper!:D
This excerpt from Wikipedia pretty well sums up the sporadic E season.
As its name suggests, sporadic E can happen at almost any time, but it does display seasonal patterns. Sporadic E activity peaks predictably in the summertime in both hemispheres. In North America, the peak is most noticeable in mid-to-late June, trailing off though July and into August. Interestingly, a much smaller peak is seen around the winter solstice. Activity usually begins in mid-December in the northern hemisphere, with the days immediately after Christmas being the most active period.

[K9STH]

I have been operating on the 6-meter band for over 48 years. Frankly, it can open at any time of day or night and at any time during the year. Sometimes this is due to sporadic "E", sometimes to "tropo", and on rare occasions due to tropospheric ducting.

Now during the warmer months the openings are often during the time of day when a lot of operators are actually operating. However, there definitely are openings at night and openings during all seasons of the year.

The problem is that way too many operators are either not even active or are just listening and not transmitting. MANY openings go completely unnoticed because everyone is listening and no one is transmitting. I recommend every few minutes (like maybe 15 minute intervals) for a station to call CQ on 50.125 MHz USB. Then turn their antenna about 30 degrees and call CQ again. Do this for all the way around the full 360 degrees. If no answer, then wait a few minutes and call again. The chances of working someone is greatly increased by turning the antenna. This is because the band can open in any direction.

Also, listen for the CW beacon stations that, in the areas controlled by the FCC, can operate in the 50.060 MHz to 50.080 MHz segment. Unfortunately, there are not beacon stations in all regions of the country. However, if there is an opening and that opening is in the direction of the beacon station then you will be able to work stations in the general area of the beacon IF someone is actually operating.

It is the same thing for the 10 meter band. MANY openings go without any activity due to the fact that many amateur radio operators "think" the band is dead so they don't even listen. On 10 meters just call CQ on 28.400 MHz USB (the "unofficial" calling frequency) and if you are using a directional antenna turn it and call CQ just like on 6 meters.

Again, the 6 meter and 10 meter bands are open a lot more than most amateur radio operators realize. It is the mindset that the bands are not open and therefore no one bothers to check.

Glen, K9STH

[k7mh]

I recommend every few minutes (like maybe 15 minute intervals) for a station to call CQ on 50.125 MHz USB. Then turn their antenna about 30 degrees and call CQ again. Do this for all the way around the full 360 degrees. If no answer, then wait a few minutes and call again.
Well, yeah, but not many people are going to spend the whole day doing that!
Most people on 6 that are serious about it that I know monitor it with a separate dedicated rig whenever they are in the shack. You'll at least hear a lot of burps and bursts that way. Around here, there are enough people on 6 that if just one of them thinks there is something going on, they will get on and call cq or get some local chat going to draw attention. When something does open, everyone comes out of the wood work!! Back in the 80's I used to have a bunch of phone numbers of the local 6 meter addicts and knew who was at work and when so wouldn't be home to call etc. These days the DX clusters help but an opening in the middle or eastern states doesn't mean we will have a path here.
It seems it is like most things, the further west and north you go the worse propagation gets.

[WA9SVD]

Well, yeah, but not many people are going to spend the whole day doing that!
Most people on 6 that are serious about it that I know monitor it with a separate dedicated rig whenever they are in the shack. You'll at least hear a lot of burps and bursts that way. Around here, there are enough people on 6 that if just one of them thinks there is something going on, they will get on and call cq or get some local chat going to draw attention. When something does open, everyone comes out of the wood work!! Back in the 80's I used to have a bunch of phone numbers of the local 6 meter addicts and knew who was at work and when so wouldn't be home to call etc. These days the DX clusters help but an opening in the middle or eastern states doesn't mean we will have a path here.
It seems it is like most things, the further west and north you go the worse propagation gets.

Guess it depends upon your affectation/addiction. If you are actiually intreested in or dedicated to 6 Meters, you will make an effort (And THAT may well be the dividing point between the OT's and newbies.)
It's partly being aware of propagation forecasts, continental weather conditions (not just local) and other factors that produce enhanced VHF (even UHF) propagation. And understanding that just because the East Coast (and even the Midwest) may have 6 Meter operings to Eu regions, doesn't mean the same for Left Coast stations. But at the same time, when the West Coast stations get an opening to Hawai'i, Australia, New Zealand or Japan, the East Coast stations are listening to static.

Such are the vagaries of RF propagation.

[K9STH]

MH:

I do not expect someone to spend all day calling CQ every 15 minutes. However, when someone is "in the shack" and wanting to work 6 meters then they should consider doing this. If they are working a different band then most amateur radio operators are not going to pay much attention to 6 meters.

As for "burps and bursts": Unfortunately, in a suburban or urban situation there are so many consumer devices that put out spurious signals in the 6 meter band that one does not have any idea as to if the "burp and burst" is from the band trying to open or if it is nothing but a spurious signal from a consumer device.

As I stated before, it is a "fact of life" that the 6 meter band often opens yet there is no one transmitting to alert all of those stations that are "just monitoring".

Glen, K9STH

[WA9SVD]

Glen makes a good point:

Not many Amateurs "bother" with 6 Meters and miss out on some good, even great, openings, "AKA" enhanced propagation."
I have a very modest setup at present, with only a dipole strung between house and garage. (OK, Inverted ""V", with the center at about 20'.)

About two (OOPS, make that 5) years ago, I worked a station in Costa Rica (and have the QSL card) with a great, Q5 signal on SSB. REALLY sounded local, and stable. And for at least a half hour after that, even though the TI5** station was still calling CQ, there were no other takers. I really DON'T believe I was the only station capable of HEARING Carlos, just that there were no others actually listening. So YES, many openings may go unnoticed.

[ve6wtf]

I have been operating on the 6-meter band for over 48 years. Frankly, it can open at any time of day or night and at any time during the year. Sometimes this is due to sporadic "E", sometimes to "tropo", and on rare occasions due to tropospheric ducting.

Now during the warmer months the openings are often during the time of day when a lot of operators are actually operating. However, there definitely are openings at night and openings during all seasons of the year.

The problem is that way too many operators are either not even active or are just listening and not transmitting. MANY openings go completely unnoticed because everyone is listening and no one is transmitting. I recommend every few minutes (like maybe 15 minute intervals) for a station to call CQ on 50.125 MHz USB. Then turn their antenna about 30 degrees and call CQ again. Do this for all the way around the full 360 degrees. If no answer, then wait a few minutes and call again. The chances of working someone is greatly increased by turning the antenna. This is because the band can open in any direction.

Also, listen for the CW beacon stations that, in the areas controlled by the FCC, can operate in the 50.060 MHz to 50.080 MHz segment. Unfortunately, there are not beacon stations in all regions of the country. However, if there is an opening and that opening is in the direction of the beacon station then you will be able to work stations in the general area of the beacon IF someone is actually operating.

It is the same thing for the 10 meter band. MANY openings go without any activity due to the fact that many amateur radio operators "think" the band is dead so they don't even listen. On 10 meters just call CQ on 28.400 MHz USB (the "unofficial" calling frequency) and if you are using a directional antenna turn it and call CQ just like on 6 meters.

Again, the 6 meter and 10 meter bands are open a lot more than most amateur radio operators realize. It is the mindset that the bands are not open and therefore no one bothers to check.

Glen, K9STH



Ten I have found is always open to somewhere..
Especially during the day.

When I woke up this morning turned the radio on I was listening to some sort of spanish..
Then I tuned up to .200 where all the beacons are
caught VE4TEN, B as well as VE5TEN, C or is it A?

then I thouhght I heard a K6F--- beacon on 28.250
Couldnt copy it to well so I gave up.

There was also a tremendous amount of PSK-31 on 28.070 for the longest while. Most of the signals came from eastern canada

[k2bet]

Nice opening on six right now... best in a few days, maybe a week or more...