6 Meters - The Magic Band
My experience with the 6 metre band goes
back way before we had only the 52 to 54 MHz segment. During the 1970's
I used a FT-101 with a FT-650 transverter and a 3 or 4 element
(can't remember) yagi at 60'. The
transverter had a valve final and produced 50 watts peak SSB. It did
its job and I had many SSB contacts around Australia and New Zealand. I
always found SSB a difficult audio to listen to, and we were usually on
slightly different frequencies, so the clarifier was often in
continuous use.
Moving ahead some 40 plus years and a purchase of an ICOM IC-7300 sparked my interest in getting back on 6 metres. The
IC-7300, idea place to site for Tortie the cat
 Now that every one was on the same frequency and the audio quality not far short of FM the effort was made to get a Yagi up in the air. Not easy due to way too many trees near my modest (35') tower, but with a lot of effort a 4 element Yagi was placed atop of the tower and by using 2" plastic pipe attached to the metal pipe at the top I was able to rotated the yagi at the bottom of the tower manually, no rotator yet.. The story of achieving this is long as the trees around the yagi prevented the Yagi from being rotated much at all. The Yagi was stuck pointing North. It was impossible to cut off the large branch, as the shed below would have been damaged. However in a stroke of inspiration I attached a wire rope to the branch and was able to winch it far enough away so the Yagi could rotate. The wire rope can just be seen inside the red circle. Still slowly applying more tension to the wire rope to move the branch away completely.  Note the beam has two driven elements and this allows for wideband operation of the entire 50 to 54 MHz band. The IC-7300 is an amazing radio (as are many of the new radios). It allows so much to be seen and done. Recording QSO's, taking screen shots and making measurements of signals, that are accurate, is a joy. I have morning and late afternoon skeds with Phil VK6ADF at Dongara, some 321 km North of my QTH. We get through about 95% of the time with few days were little or no contact is made. Many recordings and screen shots have been taken over the past year. My intention is to add audio recordings of contacts along with screen shots to this web site. Phil VK6ADF at Dongara during a heavy downpour Rapid aircraft flutter on Glen VK6IQ...Sounds like a Delek Example of slower wave like aircraft flutter caused by an A380  The only audio copied during this sked...A meteor ping billions of years in the making. VK4ID with his 9 element pointed at VK6 Dampier beacon VK6REX Large increase in Phil VK6ADF's signal VK6JJJ/MM on oil rig North of Broome VK6HV in Wickham Activity on 50.110 on 2nd January 2019 (condensed) Activity on 50.110 on 5th January 2019 VK3YE 50.110 5 watts 40cm magnetic loop walking in the sea water VK6DF mobile leaving Karratha Western Australia, recorded at QTH VK6UU 1,250 km Video of VK6DF mobile South of Karratha. |