That about says it all, doesn't it? And here I was, wondering why I've been hearing so little on the bands. Looks like, even though we'd be battling summer static, 80 and 40 Meters in the evenings might be the best bet for decent QSOs.
It might also do me in good stead to get something decent up in the air for 6 Meters, to take advantage of this time of year. I think that in my close to 40 years in Amateur Radio, that you can count on one hand, the number of QSOs that I've made on 6 Meters. Admittedly, up until owning my KX3, I never had 6 Meter capability before. Add to that, that I've never had a decent antenna for 6 Meters, either. I'll have to Google the subject to see if I can't homebrew something decent. Anyone have suggestions?
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Larry, I've been reading your blog for some time. It's one of my favorite radio blogs. I'm typically not much of a blog commenter but this post really struck a chord. My experience almost exactly mirrors yours. Up until about a year and half ago I had no 6m capability either. At that time I bought an FT-857 and built a Squalo from a lawn chair. I have a post here on my blog:
ReplyDeletehttps://outbackofbeyond.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/6m-squalo-from-a-lawn-chair/.
About a month ago I obtained a used Par Electronics Stressed Moxon and had a lot of fun operating a very recent opening with my portable station and based upon that experience I wanted more 6m capability so a new Par Electronics Omni arrived yesterday.
There's more here:
https://outbackofbeyond.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/ka9eak-portable-6m/
https://outbackofbeyond.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/more-par-to-ya/
I now have two radios and three antennas for 6m where a year and half ago I had nothing. I haven't had this much fun on the radio in awhile.
There are a bunch of 6m Moxon plans here: http://www.moxonantennaproject.com/ and if you want to purchase something I highly recommend checking out Par Electronics' offerings. Great products and a super nice person to deal with (Dale.)
73,
Tim
KA9EAK
On the bands, the last several weeks, I have found 30m to have a lot of activity, and plenty of good DX. I've already added several countries to my LoTW confirmations.
ReplyDeleteAs for 6m, you don't have to have a dedicated antenna for that band, and if you do, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. Since my loving wife bought me the K3 back Christmas 2012, I've operated mostly with whatever random HF antennas I have using the built-in antenna tuner. I did construct a very simple dipole antenna for 6m, and put it up about 3m high a couple of years ago.
Bottom line, when the band is open you could use a wet noodle to make contacts. While having a small beam is probably the best idea, a dipole, turnstile or halo antenna is adequate.