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1-10 of 10 messages
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6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by K5TEN on September 19, 2008
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Hi folks!
Maybe this is not a good thread to ask this as It may turn into a "of course it is" chorus...but I need an honest answer, (preferably from at least 10 or 20 folks who are within 300 miles from me to gauge a real accurate answer)...but..
I live in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. I have just bought a new mountainside QTH. I would like to get back on VHF again, but my last experience was in the mid-'80's in Rock Island, and 2M SSB was a ghost-town. I heard maybe 2 locals ever, and worked a guy in Kenosha, WI from time to time (I had 170W brick, 11 el yagi at 40'...brick pre-amp was great).
When I took the same equipment with me on vacation to the mountains (just across from Great Smoky Mountains National Park) I was up 2,500' and worked a handfull of locals, and another 10 guys near Ft. Wayne, IN during a band opening.
Since then I have sold off the 2M CW/SSB equipment.
I DO see WAY more HF/6M all-mode transcievers on the new market these days. It LOOKS like more folks (just by sheer population) might be getting on 6M SSB these days--but that's only an assumption.
Help me out, my brothers:
I'd like to get on VHF/SSB at my new location, but if it's going to turn out to be another ghost town, it's not worth the cost.
Are more folks using 6M these days? Is is more common than say, 10 or 15 years ago? Are there more "locals" than there used to be?
Look, I'm no stranger to dead bands. Ten Meters is my favorite band, but even on 10M it's not hard to dig up some locals to talk to. I also know that 6M is the "Magic Band" and that has just as many if not more ways to have an opening as 10M. I just need to know if the "apparent" increase in interest in 6/2M SSB is as "real" as it appears?
I listen to 2M and 440 FM in this area and the repeaters are DEAD. Graveyard DEAD. I have yet in the last 2 months hear anything on the FM simplex channels.
I've heard repeaters ID themselves, a couple of kerchunkers, one repeater where the admin was working on adjusting the links into other repeaters in the "network", but if that's the case those other repeaters are mostly graveyard dead too.
I'm just looking for some recent information as I rebuild my shack after 3 of inactivity.
Thank you in advance!
73
Bruce
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by AA4PB on September 19, 2008
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Here in VA I don't hear much 6M activity unless the band opens. Maybe people are monitoring the DX clusters while working other bands??
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by N3OX on September 19, 2008
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I also don't hear much 6 unless the band opens. Every once and a while I hear some of the local guys chatting on 50.125 or 50.130
But when the band does open up well it can sound like 20m from 50.080 to 50.200.
I think the thing is that there are a LOT of radios. There's a fair bit of interest as evidenced by the fact that most band openings to the U.S. come with activity.
One thing that's missing is antenna systems that are worth a damn for troposcatter. So when the band is dead it's going to be really dead. People use antennas up 10 feet, or in their attic or like me, a little beam on the chimney. (of course, this means 2m/432 is stone dead except in contests around here)
And I think Bob's right that people wait for the band to open to get on 6m. When the band is closed, I'm more likely to go down and see what's going on on HF. If I have a suspicion that it will open somewhere cool, I'll listen to the hiss and tune around. Certainly spent a lot of time listening to white noise in the morning with my coffee before I headed into the lab, hoping I could catch a little EU opening, but I don't spend any time on the band if I think it's going to be dead; I've got other things I find more fun and no established local buddies.
73,
Dan
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by N3OX on September 19, 2008
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By the way, I think the antenna thing is pretty serious. A lot of folks probably don't even know they can talk more than 10 miles on a "dead" 6m band, but they think their antenna is the greatest thing since sliced bread because they work 25 guys every time the strong Es rolls in, so they don't upgrade.
I think about the "omni loop @ 10 feet is all I need on 6m" guys when N3DB is running a little EU pileup while I'm getting snippets of one guy in Portugal on my 5 element yagi at 25 feet.
;-)
Dan
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by WB2WIK on September 19, 2008
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Antennas and location are important.
When I had 20 elements (four 5 element yagis in an "H" frame) at 82' above ground and 1500W PEP on six meters years ago, I could call CQ almost any time of the day or night and get answers. However, it was very common that the answers were from 500-600 miles away and not close. That wasn't E-skip, or any kind of skip, it was just tropo, but long tropo made possible by the big and high antenna, and raising stations due to my running legal limit power.
Even with the 20 elements, if I called CQ with 100W I would not get nearly the quantity of answers.
Now I only have a single measly 7 element yagi at about 60 feet and it's not quite the same, although I can almost always raise a contact.
MOST contacts are "weak." I mean, weak...weak to the extent that without the beam, they're gone and I don't hear them at all. I have a pair of stacked 6m loops and can hear maybe 10% as many stations on the loops as I can on the beam.
However, what would help (and I don't have it!) is a lot of elevation! If I take a 6m SSB rig mobile up to Saddle Peak, only 10-12 miles from here overlooking Malibu with a 180 degree view of the Pacific Ocean and another 180 degree view inland to about 100-150 miles (long horizon), with just 150W PEP and a single loop I can work a lot of stuff. Much more than I can from home with the same station and loop, down a few thousand feet lower.
The best of all worlds would be a mountaintop QTH with a good tower and stacked beams. Under those condx, you can definitely work stuff on 6m SSB 24/7 because you'll be working into other time zones and across multiple state lines routinely, *without* ionospheric propagation.
WB2WIK/6
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by K9KJM on September 20, 2008
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If you thought two meter SSB was a ghost town years ago, You will really find no one there nowadays!
At least around here in the upper midwest, The band has been in GREAT shape on many openings, I work FM simplex station well over 200 miles away, Switch to SSB/CW and hear close to nothing. (I do have good quality HORIZONTAL antennas for the SSB)
It seems every year two meter (And 432) SSB activity is less and less, To the point that now, Even on the big contest days when years ago the band really came alive when the big gun contesters blew the dust off the big stations, Not much is heard at all.
6 meter SSB however still has lots of activity, As much or more than years ago, In spite of the crummy band conditions.
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by K5TEN on September 21, 2008
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Thank you folks!
The information, to me, is priceless.
As I re-build my station, I need to set priorities, and you have all helped me with that.
I will get on 6M, but that can wait until next Spring.
Thank you all for taking the time to post!
73
Bruce
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by KM3F on September 21, 2008
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To weigh in on this subject, I work 6 m on a regular basis on long ground wave and DX openings.
Look at it this way; it's just the same as if you were going TV dxing.
Height for ground wave is all important as is a beam.
During the last vhf contest that was almost all ground wave, it was shown that my range was at least 500 miles but of course the stations were almost all at high locations and running a fair amount of power as well as beams.
Out of contest conditions, my normal 100 watt/5 element beam station is about a 300 mile setup under the best conditions of low noise and nose to nose on the beams as well as the contacts all have good location as a norm.
I work SSD, FM and AM where I can get stations to try it.
Some hams are delighted to make simplex contacts on FM as well as in DX times.
Often you will find the other stations' antennas are lacking in bandwidth and are more simple and don't work well for long ground wave.
Height is good for ground wave, nearly anything works for DX when present because of the angle of recieve and transmitt.
There is a local to me that runs a Halo and gets out but canot hear the stations coming back so his efforts on the band are pointless and interfers with others trying to use the frequencies.
So there you have it. You have to decide if you will try to work the band over the long term and get others to come if they know someone will be there at times.
You need to evaluate your location and a worthwhile antenna to make it work and earn a place in the antenna farm.
Aside from all this, it must be considered that with all the bands available there is only so much time to spend so people will spend it where there is the most activity that meets their interests.
Mine is working DX at nite on 75 meters.
Like 6m, it requires a good antenna and the ability to hear through the high noise levels that are customary on that band.
From my location, Europe is the norm on 75m and VK/ZL there in winter and spring.
So with that said I work both extremes so to speak working stations on bands thought to be short distance bands and the challanges of doing it.
2m SSB is coming soon to my shack.
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by K5TEN on September 26, 2008
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Thanks again! All of this is extremely interesting to me. Not having been on 6M before, it's best to ask those in the know before making bad decisions based on zero information.
I'm not to the point of getting full legal power and stacked 6 element beams...I know folks like that and they have been HUGELY successful on 6M.
I want to enjoy 6M similarly to how I enjoy 10M. I have never used an amp on 10M. I do, however, believe in making my 100w matter with the best possible antenna. I'm really looking at one of those 6 element beams on a 40' guyed and cemented base. That, up almost 800' on a mountainside.
It's wide open as far as you can see off to my west. No joke, it's the best scenic (sunset) view I have ever seen. Same for the east (for the antenna). There is another mountain to my south, but it's 7 miles away. The mountain I am on goes up another 300' to the north and east...but that's the only forest I'm looking at.
From what you guys are telling me, I will have fun with band openings (like on 10M), but should have fun out to 200 or 300 miles on a regular basis--and that would be just fine with me.
I'm already shopping for a decent 6M all mode 100w rig. The antenna won't be a problem. All of your posts helped me decide.
I've done the 2M SSB thing, and it was fun at the time, but I'd rather give 6M a shot before doing 2M SSB again.
Thank you all again very much for your input.
Thanks again, Steve, for the detailed report!
73
Bruce
K5TEN
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RE: 6m & 2M SSB Activity--Talk To me...
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by ONAIR on November 25, 2008
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There are people on 2 meter SSB, but you'll often have to hunt for them. A good radio with a 2 meter beam is essential, and extra power will help. You gotta be patient and do slow 360 scans with the beam, and wait for that faint signal in the distance.
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