Nuther 6m Question! WOOHOO!

[KC2VVJ]

So,

Before the banter of research is thrown into the mix, ive done quite a bit. I have also looked going on 4 hours now for definitive information. Such is the nature of Amateur Radio, The Science of Theories.

Voice in 6m is acceptable where? Anywhere or generally in specific places?

Anybody within 25 Miles of Beacon, NY wanna try to QSO? I have an 80 foot wire that is tuned right now, and looking to try the Magic Band.

Beacons are located in the early stage of the band? 50.100-300?

Any More Tips? Also, Where might one set the radio to hear anything? FM, CW, USB,LSB? What might be popular? Beacons?

[K7MH]

Next time look in Part 97. It will save you about 3 hours and 59 minutes in looking.

Voice on 6 meters is above 50.100
Most hang around 50.125 on SSB.
50.000 to 50.100 is the CW sub-band and is where you will find the beacons.
Make a note to yourself that CW is authorized throughout any of the ham bands, not just in the CW only sub-bands.

[KC2VVJ]

Good to note about 97. A day of retail sales and a cold beer makes common sense go out the window.

[WB2WIK]

Yeah, the 6m beacons are all below 50.100 and, like all other bands, are all CW.

Most activity is around 50.125, going "up" from there on SSB, and going down from there on CW/digital.

There's an "AM window" on 50.4, where if you use AM, you want to be.

An 80' wire isn't much of an antenna for 6m, but if the band opens up, it should be enough to make some contacts. The vast majority of 6m home station ops use horizontally polarized beams, which don't have to be very large: A 5 element 6m yagi on a 12' boom is only 10' wide and occupies very little space. The "serious" 6m ops use antennas much larger than that, but you can leverage off their gain.

I could listen here on 6m with an 80' wire for months and maybe not hear anything. But I have a 7 element beam on a 25' boom, on a tower, and I hear stuff on six all the time. And this is not a big antenna system for six meters, by any means. It's probably far below "average" for real 6m men. But I do have a coax switch in the system, and I've heard S9 signals from Japan on six where if I switch to a wire antenna, they're simply "gone," not even the slightest trace of a signal.

[KE6QCV]

Try on 50.125 USB, it is the normal calling channel, make a contact then move off to anywhere from 50.135 to 50.200, USB.

Make sure it's far enough away as to not bleed over on someone else.

I find this site as a good tool for looking at 6 meter activity.

hXXp://www.vhfdx.info/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA&mycall=&myloc=&freq=& prop=

[KC2VVJ]

Im an apartment dweller, and the best I am able to do is a temporary wire strung vertically about 25" and out to my shed the remainder, its a right angle and the slope from wall to end is a negative slope, so kinda vert, kinda horizontal, kinda neg slope, kinda carpy :P

[KC9AXZ]

Do a Google search for PAR Omni Loop antennas. The 6 meter one works great. I've worked almost 200 grids on one. They may be manageable to use in an apartment dwelling. I actually own 2 of these loops. One stays on the roof full time, the other I bought just for field work.

Jon KC9AXZ

[K9STH]

In the area administered by the FCC, the beacon frequencies on the 6-meter band, if automatically controlled, have to be between 50.060 MHz and 50.080 MHz. This per 47 CFR Part 97 Section 97.203(b) which reads as follows:

(d) A beacon may be automatically controlled while it is transmitting on the 28.20–28.30 MHz, 50.06–50.08 MHz, 144.275–144.300 MHz, 222.05–222.06 MHz or 432.300–432.400 MHz segments, or on the 33 cm and shorter wavelength bands.

Glen, K9STH

[K0BG]

If you can't afford a beam, and a tower to put it on, consider a pair of halos. M-Squared sells a fairly good one, and two will give you about 6 dB of omnidirectional, horizontal gain. Height should be at leaf 35 feet for maximum effect.

I have a single halo on my Ridgeline. I'm still amazed how good it works, even though it is not mounted ideally.