Susan, W7KFI is planning to activate Johnson Island KH3 in Jan. Advertised activity does not include 6m but I have emailed her to ask if she would include it.
She is traveling there on her sailing boat and we should not expect a large yagi, but if conditions are good something simple will do. I have been working KH6 with 50w and a vertical.
73
Wayne VK4WDM
Efforts to induce W7KFI to operate 6m from KH3
-
VK4WDM
Re: Efforts to induce W7KFI to operate 6m from KH3
Here is the reply I received from Susan:
A lot of us still need to work a lot of the Pacific islands on 6m and Both Johnson and Pitcairn Islands should be fairly easy with the recent dramatic improvement in trans-Pacific propagation.
What can we do about it?
73
Wayne VK4WDM
It is extremely difficult to get HF oriented, non-6m enthusiasts, to operate on 6m during dxpeditions. The upcoming operation from Pitcairn Island is another case in point - they have not even answered my emails requesting they consider operating on 6m.I will be on kh3 for ten days....will listen to six, but in 54 years as aham I have never heard a six meter sig....using k3 here
Susan Meckley, Skipper W7KFI-mm AFA9SM
USSV DHARMA
A lot of us still need to work a lot of the Pacific islands on 6m and Both Johnson and Pitcairn Islands should be fairly easy with the recent dramatic improvement in trans-Pacific propagation.
What can we do about it?
73
Wayne VK4WDM
Re: Efforts to induce W7KFI to operate 6m from KH3
We can always organise our own DXpeditions to the PacificVK4WDM wrote:Here is the reply I received from Susan:
It is extremely difficult to get HF oriented, non-6m enthusiasts, to operate on 6m during dxpeditions. The upcoming operation from Pitcairn Island is another case in point - they have not even answered my emails requesting they consider operating on 6m.
A lot of us still need to work a lot of the Pacific islands on 6m and Both Johnson and Pitcairn Islands should be fairly easy with the recent dramatic improvement in trans-Pacific propagation.
What can we do about it?
73
Wayne VK4WDM
Seriously though, if someone doesn't want to operate on a particular band or mode then they have every right not to do so - and pushing them to do so will not help change their mind - if anything it will make them all the more determined not to do so (psych 101!). Maybe work out the optimal time of day for 6m activity (to both the US and the VK/ZL area from there) and let her know these times plus give some advice on a very compact 6m antenna so that we are not being to pushy (or being perceived to be).
Ref my comments about DIY Dxpeditions it may not be as silly as it sounds - if people want a particular entity activated on a specific band or mode badly enough then they can activate that entity - or help to fund it. I have been to Fiji for the last three years on holidays (visiting my sister who has been working there). - but for a number of reasons have not taken gear. This has really annoyed me - no gear in a DX paradise - so next time I head to the Pacific on holidays, I will be getting an appropriate licence and taking radio gear with me. Anyone want the North Cook Islands activated?
If I go, it would only be holiday style operations as I quite enjoy my diving and drinking as well, cost is not cheap as you can easily exceed the weight limits and pay excess baggage - not to mention, some of the flights are not cheap, so helping someone financially to activate an entity can be most appreciated.Hmmm, must get an FC-30 for my 897 and design/make up some easily portable antennas.......
Matt
VK1MA
-
VK4WDM
Re: Efforts to induce W7KFI to operate 6m from KH3
Most of the entities that are accessible by routine flights such as the Cooks, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga etc are activated quite frequently and many 6m ops already have them confirmed. Its the rarer stuff like the two I mentioned that are really needed, and launching a dxpedition to them is not a "going on holiday - take rig" situation.
Unfortunately a lot of hams regard 6m dxers as a weird bunch of the somewhat unwashed, who crawl out of their holes every 11 years or so, and are not really worth expeding RF energy or time on. Maybe they are right!
We also tend to give the impression that operating on 6m is a very technical business that requires your underpants to be set at a certain degree of tightness and requires the mandatory use of big antennas and lots of power. If 6m is open then it is open, and I have sat in a deck chair in my garden wearing baggy underpants (or no underpants) and worked stations in Europe with 20w and a mobile whip!
As I have said several times in this forum, its not lack of propagation that leads to low 6m (and 2 & 70cm) activity in the Pacific, its lack of participating hams!
73
Wayne VK4WDM
Unfortunately a lot of hams regard 6m dxers as a weird bunch of the somewhat unwashed, who crawl out of their holes every 11 years or so, and are not really worth expeding RF energy or time on. Maybe they are right!
We also tend to give the impression that operating on 6m is a very technical business that requires your underpants to be set at a certain degree of tightness and requires the mandatory use of big antennas and lots of power. If 6m is open then it is open, and I have sat in a deck chair in my garden wearing baggy underpants (or no underpants) and worked stations in Europe with 20w and a mobile whip!
As I have said several times in this forum, its not lack of propagation that leads to low 6m (and 2 & 70cm) activity in the Pacific, its lack of participating hams!
73
Wayne VK4WDM
-
VK4TS
Re: Efforts to induce W7KFI to operate 6m from KH3
Wayne at least you asked the question - most others haven't - (me included)
Does not the K3 operate on 6Metres ?? Why not ask if a sat phone number is available ? What antennae are being taken ? Would they spurt a bit of RF on 6 ??
Good luck with the quest you deserve that one in the log for effort -
Does not the K3 operate on 6Metres ?? Why not ask if a sat phone number is available ? What antennae are being taken ? Would they spurt a bit of RF on 6 ??
Good luck with the quest you deserve that one in the log for effort -
-
VK4WDM
Re: Efforts to induce W7KFI to operate 6m from KH3
I have been having some email exchanges with Susan W7KFI and gently encouraging her to think about 6m activity on her planned trip to KH3. Last night I received this:
Hopefully she is hooked!
Wayne VK4WDM
(I think she meant FK8CP).I tried six last evening. And worked fk2cp....first sig on. 6 in my 57 years of ham radio...cw qso
Hopefully she is hooked!
Wayne VK4WDM