Future of 50-52MHZ -deafening silence!

[ZL3ADT]

Yes Steve its gone.
There is good and bad in everything.

From a selfish point of view I may be worse off, being 40km from transmitter.
The carrier drifting through the frequency receiver was tuned to was a big problem.
The only station I ever worked beaming in that direction( towards TV ) was CT3HF and maybe CP6AK.

But there should be lots more Es QSOs within ZL and VK ?

I have also been there, done that but will take whats going even after 30 + years.

Dont ever expect to work 100 countries from here, but thats 6m.Only 3 new ones this cycle.

Ross

[VK3OE]

Stop complaining!!!

The low frequency TVs are nearly all gone, much the better for all.
Some have said "OH dear". I say get on with a bit of innovation. The chirp radar development is coming along nicely and shows more promise that all the LF TVs put together. System processing gain and resolution of the radar are far exceed that any other digital coding (WSPR included) beacause it can also average.
So you get distance as well and easily achieve processing gains exceeding 60dB in one minute.

The potential is to be able to look in any direction with the radar and see where it is open to, with system gain that exceeds the capability of looking for a TV carrier with Spectrum Lab.

There is a great future to explore new propagation on 6m especially at the summer and winter solstice.

So, "been there - done that", well you ain't seen nothing yet, come to GippsTech this year to see what the possibilities are.

Some people, instead of complaining, are actually working behind the scenes to ensure that 50-52 is made amateur exclusive in Australia.

Andrew
VK3OE.

[VK2TS]

Stop complaining!!!

The low frequency TVs are nearly all gone, much the better for all.
Some have said "OH dear". I say get on with a bit of innovation. The chirp radar development is coming along nicely and shows more promise that all the LF TVs put together. System processing gain and resolution of the radar are far exceed that any other digital coding (WSPR included) beacause it can also average.
So you get distance as well and easily achieve processing gains exceeding 60dB in one minute.

The potential is to be able to look in any direction with the radar and see where it is open to, with system gain that exceeds the capability of looking for a TV carrier with Spectrum Lab.

There is a great future to explore new propagation on 6m especially at the summer and winter solstice.

So, "been there - done that", well you ain't seen nothing yet, come to GippsTech this year to see what the possibilities are.

Some people, instead of complaining, are actually working behind the scenes to ensure that 50-52 is made amateur exclusive in Australia.

Andrew
VK3OE.

Good to see someone is being positive rather than being negative about proceedings. You blokes need to look on the bright side of life Fair dinkum cheer up !

[VK2TS]

Well done its OFF
Now the hard work starts
and the cost to YOU GUYS?

yep thats right
All that KW of energy was tax payer funded that took the 45 VIDEO carriers to the ends of the earth and back.
24/7 so no matter where on earth it was open to someone always told you they had heard 45 VIDEO.

NOW WHAT
6M beacon take up the slack?
JT65?
How about EME
Welcome to the 21st century of 6M operating.
Dont expect us old timers to help as we are known for our BEEN THERE DONE THAT
I have no suggestions as I have never existed in a world without 6M low band indicators
and it was never an impediment to me.
You have to be smarter and as to how that is done i have no idea.
yep band is quiet.
Same here
have a station i woudl have killed for 22 years ago
Solid state.
big yagi
Low signal to noise ratio
And declining 6M dx and dx conditions
One country in 5 years one or two out of reach.
Still need XX9 JT1
if the KH9 near misses recently are anything to go on
I could not catch a cold right now.
Good Luck ZL3
OT

Steve 3ZAZ next thing you will be typing in red on the logger like Jack. Don't let the negative guys drag you down mate. Always remember keep a stiff upper lip and be positive mate

[VK4WDM]

Us old guys have done the best we can with CW and SSB, and my guess is that we have only discovered a small portion of what the band is really capable of.

Let's get some of the bright young technocrats with new technology interested in 6m and see what happens. As I keep saying, my belief is that there are paths and modes that have not yet been exploited, and some of them are very likely to be independent of sun spot peaks.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK2TS]

Why on earth do we need more band? Apart from a few beacons, you could fit all our activity in the first 200 odd KHz. We don't need FM or repeaters.

David
VK3AUU

If you read the band plan for 6Metres you will see only the Eastern States are excluded (ie: VK4, VK2, VK3, and VK1) from operating 400Watts compared to the rest of VK 52 - 54Mhz is predominantly used for FM Simplex and Repeaters. I know there is a SSB allocation but i hear it is rarely used except rarely by Standard calls.

I assume there has been no further developments in respect to the 400Watt limit with the Easter States falling in line with the Central and Western States on 6Metres?

The silence is deafening

Cheers

[VK8VTX]

as a "standard call" i cq on on 52mhz until i am blue in the face regularly, and 99.9% of the time i get nothing, even when there is 59 dx happening on 50mhz and 49ers and 55ers are pinning the meter, but .....52mhz......nothing, no skip? i don't think so lol. just that very few want to know about the rest of 6m and are happy to make the first 300khz of 50mhz their life's work. trying to get a "full call"to go to up to 52mhz is the next biggest challenge, not to me but to the survival of 6m as a whole is introducing advanced calls to the concept of wide bandwidth antennas, so they to can enjoy the "" deafening silence"" that i so richly enjoy on 52.100mhz

1. make 50 to 54 primary

or 2. let ACMA delete 50 to 52mhz and come up to 52mhz and make the word "primary" actually mean something. ie BE there!


73's
joe

VK8VTX

[VK4WDM]

Hi Joe

There are a couple of issues. The major one is that antennas that are optimised for serious gain on 50MHZ for DX have a very narrow wave-length and if you are chasing DX you are not going to do anything that will compromise antenna gain. Yes there are some wider antenna designs available, but I have not seen any that you could use on 52MHZ that is anywhere near the efficiency of my 7el yagi optimised for 50.110MHZ (I might be wrong of course).

Having said that, there are things that can be done even if you have a narrow antenna. The internal tuner in the rig may allow a 50MHZ antenna to load on 52MHZ albeit with reduced output. The other approach is to use a simple vertical, or a dipole for cut for 52MHZ which will work very well, and some multiband antennas also cover 6m.

Now the other issue is this. If I am putting a CQ out I always call on 52MHZ as well as 50MHZ, but during the last E season I only worked one station on 52MHZ which suggests to me that there are very few standard calls interested in 6m.

IMO, the standard licence should be allowed access to the whole of the 6m anyway. We need more activity.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK4WDM]

Joe, just a suggestion. When you hear activity on 50MHZ, or see it reported on the logger, put a post in ichat saying that you are listening and calling on 52MHZ. Some people need to be reminded that there is another 6M segment.

There is also some room for investigation here too. We usually believe that when the band is open on 50MHZ the propagation extends to 52MHZ, but where is the hard evidence?

See you on 52MHZ in the coming E season

73

Wayne VK4WDM