SIX Meters or SICK Meters

[VK3ZAZ]

Petition to Rename the 6 Meter "Magic Band" to the "Frustration Band"
In cambodia at least "'Magic Band" will now be known as the "Frustration Band".

According to the DX Clusters, there has not been a six meter QSO from Cambodia since 2003..........From 4:00PM - 8:00PM local time yesterday there were no less than 10 six meter beacons heard here at stregnths of anywhere from S5 to S9++. The beacons were from all over Indonesia & China, some were as far north as Japan. This is the first time I have heard anything on 6 from here in the past 6+ months and I listen & call on 6 everyday.

I started calling CQ with my radios CW memory keyer at 4 PM and called it quits at 8 PM local time. At ALL TIMES the 6 meter beacons were very strong with the exception of the Japanese ones which were (at the loudest) S5 or so.

I sent my CQ string 4 times per minute at about 25 WPM while listening between sendings. Thus 4 times per minute for 4 hours straight yields just under 1,000 CQ's being sent on an OPEN six meter band.

So how many QSOs did I have (or even hear) after sending CQ just under 1,000 times for 4 hours straight?

signed XU7XXX



http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?20 ... -Band-quot

[VK5BC]

What's the point Steve, that post was 28/May 2009, is it relevant to today? In searching the DX Summit the only post XV7XXX made re 6m was as follows;

XU7XXX-@ 50125.0 XU7XXX QRT Tomorrow at 2200 UTC 1204 07 Jun Kampuchea

He obviously didn't advertise that he was hearing all these beacons.

Brian
VK5BC

[VK3ZAZ]

The point is 6M not healthy from an operators perspective Pacific dead territory
One KH6 today one yesterday
island has at least 30 ops capable.
Why arent they coming on?



SO is the 6M world shrinking?
Beacon reports all over.
Just go into DX summit and type in KH9/WA2YUN beacon
hundreds reports few qsos.

And yet on 50MHZ dot come he has swapped the 6M shack to his beach house and if you go into QST you will find that if you send an email to WA2YUN at yahoo dot com it will ping on his POP3 accoutn and alert him

So why are some of the VK4s still wanting KH9?
Their fault, His fault, no ones fault?
is there a fault?

[VK8VTX]

now you have some taste of the frustrations that standard class calls have on 52mhz

when you hear 599 beacons and 50.110 going off, but 52mhz........dead

[VK4REX]

Unfortunately this is the common problem with 6 meters. I worked many firsts, DXCC and worked all JA call areas but never bothered to claim any of them when I lived in Darwin (VK8RH). I held the VK distance record for some time and believe I still hold the VK8 distance record. I got frustrated by 1 idiot interstate (VK3) and turned off 6 never to return again. This is how a lot of others feel unfortunately. I am still active in amateur radio but on different bands, just managed the 47Ghz record for Aus so there is still life after 6.

[VK5PO]

Do not hesitate to tell us what you REALLY think Rex!!!

DXCC not claimed? That is just bizarre mate!

Take it easy old friend, I would NEVER let another operator piss me off to the extent I give up the hobby, moreover a band for that matter.


73 Rex.
John, VK5PO

[VK2OT]

standard class licence need to up grade not winge as they do so often . Wanting it all for nothing. vk2ot up grade

[VK3VFO]

Maybe it's time to let the standard calls use 50Mhz to help get more users on in VK.It seems to me being a biased Standard call ,the Advanced calls keep getting stuff.hi hi

Nick
VK3VFO

[VK2OT]

hahaha up grade is the answer .

[VK3NFI]

standard class licence need to up grade not winge as they do so often . Wanting it all for nothing. vk2ot up grade

Ah well since us lesser standard licences don't all have the brains to upgrade or the time and since it would seem the only
answer is to upgrade maybe its time to hand the 52MHz portion of the band back to the ACMA .....
And as far as wanting something for nothing I pay my $73 just like every other class of licence...

[VK5PO]

Why does this argument go on and on and on.... I wanted 50Mhz... I sat the FULL CALL EXAM....


I can now use 50Mhz... (well for the last 25 yrs anyway)

Brains? Study...read the books... Lack of Time??? That is a real poor excuse.... Most are operating on the air for hours on end.

It is about personal application, and the WANT to achieve something.

PS, what have these "ADVANCED CALLS" been given?
73

[VK6OX]

Yep, keep up the -ve attitude you lot and we'll all end up with nil.

FFS, what is it with 6m people?? Are we all totally screwed in the head?

I'm fairly sure that some are, and they seem to think the world starts and finishes with 6. All I can say is "get a life folks" there's more to living than sitting in front of a rig going "HHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" all day long!

There's a knob/button/etc. on your rig that get's you to (OMG ) bands which don't have the number 6 in them!

Sheesh!

[VK3NFI]

I never said I wanted 50Mhz Im happy with that in fact I hardly use 6 meters and with some of the attitudes I get from advanced calls
why would I want to upgrade, the point is why call us wingers why cant you advanced calls talk to the operators on 52Mhz
I never asked for anything for nothing but to put us STANDARD calls in a lesser world is a disgusting side of this hobby.
shame...

quote "WINGERS"

[VK6OX]

I never said I wanted 50Mhz Im happy with that in fact I hardly use 6 meters and with some of the attitudes I get from advanced calls
why would I want to upgrade, the point is why call us wingers why cant you advanced calls talk to the operators on 52Mhz
I never asked for anything for nothing but to put us STANDARD calls in a lesser world is a disgusting side of this hobby.
shame...

quote "WINGERS"

As far as I'm concerned all hams are the same regardless of license. I'll work ANY ham if he wants to work me....I won't STOP if an F-call responds to my CQ etc.

BUT (there's always a "but") there is a hierarchy in license classes....been around in VK since Adam was a boy. And I agree with it! I'm not going to go into the "whys and wherefores" of that, you can look it up yourself if you're really interested.

But (another "but") most Advanced ops have, for 6m, fine tuned their antennas to produce best results at the lower end of 6m... as a consequence they produce VERY HIGH VSWR at 52MHz. So it's got nothing to do with not wanting to wk the guys that are up there, it's just very hard to do so.

Sri, but I really think I'm going to be flogging a dead horse here...time to do something important!!

[VK4WDM]

why cant you advanced calls talk to the operators on 52Mhz?

VK6OX has pointed on one reason why advanced calls won't work stations on 52MHZ: Most high gain antennas optimised for 50MHZ will not work at 52MHZ. The high SWR on my 7 el yagi will shut the transceiver down if I try to use it at 52MHZ, but I can get about 75% efficiency by using a tuner, so my reason for not talking to std calls on 52MHZ is not my antenna.

My reason for not talking to std calls on 52MHZ is I hardly ever find any to talk to. For the last four E seasons I have called CQ on both 50 and 52MH every time I made a CQ call (including several times tonight) and have the receiver on dual watch on both segments. The net result is that I have had only a handful of contacts on 52MHZ whereas I have had several hundred on 50MHZ. So where are these Std calls who are begging for contacts?

The other thing to consider is that we only assume that if there is propagation on 50MHZ there will be propagation on 52MHZ. Has anyone got experimental proof on that? If not, I challenge those who have access to both segments to run some tests.

In summary, I will talk to anybody, from anywhere, with any type of licence, on any band including 52MHZ. If std calls see me on the logger ask me to give it a go on 52MHZ.

With regard to the lack on 6m activity in general. I have been a ham for nearly 50 years and activity on 6m, and in fact all bands, and different modes, has always waxed and wayned ( ). "Fads" come and go. People get hooked on something new and then discard it when something else becomes the fashion. That is the wonderful thing about AR, there are so many different facets to the hobby. Each to his own. We should all help each other and rejoice in others acheivement's

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK8VTX]

hi Wayne and hi to all, while i know my words may have been a bit provocative, (by the looks of it) what i was trying to show is feeling of frustration
when i (and other) hear dx getting worked on 50mhz and there is nothing to not much on 52mhz. whether we are talking about 50 or 52mhz the
problem is the same.........not a lot of dx. i understand about many dxers are using narrow bandwidth antennas. the simplest fix to that is
just have another antenna for 52 to 54mhz, i mean after all you can operate there too, so why wouldn't you? or is it that you all know that the dx
window is where you will find all the dx and don't want to go anywhere else? now as to the upgrade thing, well like i have said so many times
that's not the issue,all that would do is bring me down to 50mhz, so what would the point to even have 50.300 all the way up to 54mhz if
your not going to use it? in reality the 6m band is only 300khz wide. NO, i don't want it all for nothing, just want what is fair, i have
all of 80 (minus dx window)/40/20/15/10 and 2 so why not all of 6m? whats the point in only giving band segments, the old novice class
was like that and they did away with it but failed to do the same to 6m.

now if you want dx on 50mhz, that is after all what this topic is about, than SPAM SPAM SPAM, get the word out to the counties
you want to work. it's a snowball effect, when people hear activity there are more likely to join in. sadly the same true for the
opposite.

oh and Wayne, maybe the reason you don't hear me on 52.100 is because 90% of the time i am beam north away from Australia
trying to dx international on 52 mhz, a waste of time i know, but i hold out for hope

73's
Joe

vk8vtx

[VK2ZIW]

6m repeaters are always there, so for standard calls, use them please.

I have a VX5R connected to a 5/8 always scanning. Call on 52.050 SSB on vertical and I'll find you.

Never give up, never give up - Churchill.

Alan

[VK4WDM]

I think another point needs to be made. Why do we just regard 6m as a "DX band"? It is also a very good band for local contacts too. As has just been pointed out, activity begats activity. Most of my early contacts between ZL and VK were due to hearing "local chatter" in VK and simply breaking in, and the same was true with VK to ZL. If you wanted to get US contacts you listened on the frequencies that were most used by the locals.

Unless there is RF in the air, there will be no contacts. And yes, the restriction of std calls to 52MHZ is silly. Hopefully in the reorganisation of the 6m band plan that will be dropped.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK3AUU]

Back in the late 60's (Ah, the good old days) we only had 50 megs. I was in Tennant Creek, NT. During the DX season to the north we had wall to wall JA's on 50, but the same ones were much weaker or non existent on 52. My antenna seemed to work equally well on both frequencies.

The humble 10 element DL6WU has a 3db gain bandwidth of almost 6 MHz (47.1 to 53) and the SWR is less than 2 to 1 from 48.2 to 51 if it is made for 50.2, so it only requires slight modification to work above 52.

The highly regarded 15 metre long boom LFA has a 3 MHz gain bandwidth,( 48,1 to 51.1) but only 1.6 MHz SWR bandwidth. (49.1 to 50.7)

The 10 elements on 15.5 metre boom YU7EF has a 3.3 MHz gain bandwidth (48.6 to 53) and a 2.1 MHz SWR bandwidth.(48.6 to 50.7)

You pays your money and you takes your pick, keeping in mind that shorter boom antennas generally have narrower bandwidths. The standard operators also have a slight advantage because the desirable antenna characteristics fall off somewhat slower on the low side of the design frequency.

David
VK3AUU

[VK3AUU]

That should read "We only had 52 megs".

David