Look for the 6 meter net to be back on the K0NXA 53.27 repeater beginning in 2012! NCS stations will be James Adkins, KB0NHX; Gary Doucey N0IRN; and Alan DuBrul, K0AWD. The net will resume on Monday evenings in 2012 at the regular timeslot of 8PM local time. Watch for more information on exactly what date in 2012 the net will resume!
73,
6 Meter.Net
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Good Things Come in Sixes
This is a good article on the upcoming six meter season. While I don't really agree with the compromised antenna suggestions, the rest of it is informative.
Reprinted from the ARRL Contest Update newsletter
Reprinted from the ARRL Contest Update newsletter
If you haven't read Dave Sumner K1ZZ's editorial in the latest QST, you should. (It Seems To Us, page 9, April QST) Titled "Our "New" 6 Meter Band", Dave lays out the reasons for the "Magic Band" to be enjoying a resurgence of interest. For too long, fears of TVI to adjacent Channel 2 (54-60 MHz) kept many hams off the band. With the changing of TV broadcasts to digital HDTV, many stations moved their transmissions to UHF channels better suited for the subtleties of the complex digital signal.
This removes a significant barrier to 6 meter operation. In addition, many new HF transceivers include full 6 meter multi-mode coverage. All of the new and sophisticated receiver features can now be brought to bear on a band with a tremendous range of propagation modes, from sporadic-E, tropospheric and meteor scatter, to regular F2 skip anticipated in the coming years of higher solar flux. The band is no longer a poor cousin to HF, supporting interesting opportunities for grid-chasing and even DXCC.
The summer VHF+ contest season is imminent. The WSJT Sprint includes 6 meters, running on March 27 and April 24. May brings the 50 MHz Spring Sprint. June features the ARRL's VHF QSO Party and SMIRK QSO Party on back to back weekends in prime sporadic-E season. Field Day has special incentives to be active on 6 Meters, too. If you take a close look at the contest calendars, you'll also find many QSO parties include the VHF/UHF bands.
A whole new antenna complement is not required. Often times, your 40 meter antenna will load up on 6 meters just fine, it being resonant around the 7th harmonic of 7 MHz. There are loads of designs for small Yagis and quads for six meters, a CB whip can be cut down to work on 50 MHz, and even a dipole will get you a log full of contest contacts. Just think - a 6 meter antenna raised to 20 feet is about a wavelength high. That's hard to accomplish on most of HF!
As the HF bands quiet down a little for the summer, there is another exciting band just waiting to take their place in your operating schedule. Read up on 6 meter operation and band plans, tune around the beacon segment, and don't be afraid to call "CQ Six" from time to time. Behind the "50" button on your HF rig lies a whole new world.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Ham is a hobby best shared...
The quote below taken from a member post on eHam.net
"...What EMCOM has done, though, is bring literally thousands of people into amateur radio who have absolutely zero interest in it. I know some personally. These are people like cops, medics, firefighters, EMTs, and even highway department personnel, who have been told that amateur radio is the new 'utility' backup for public safety communications. While these entrants do boost the numbers, which is the ARRL goal, they serve no other purpose in amateur radio, except for frequent misuse of it...."
I am not here to bash anyone. I agree with the author's premise that uninterested masses do not help advance the hobby; however, I do feel having more folks is much better than the alternative, and I believe it does help to preserve the amateur service if only by increasing the bottom line numbers the bureaucrats see. I'm sure the author is speaking from his experience and when looking at a group of any size one can find a way to make the sample fit the conclusion. I choose to look for the good. Find the one in ten in then newcomers that does have a desire to pursue the hobby. Befriend them and help them out. Pass along the wisdom you've gotten from those that helped you. Take the effort you have gleaned from others and invested in the hobby and share it. It's one of the best parts of ham radio. The more you learn about something, the more you appreciate it.
"...What EMCOM has done, though, is bring literally thousands of people into amateur radio who have absolutely zero interest in it. I know some personally. These are people like cops, medics, firefighters, EMTs, and even highway department personnel, who have been told that amateur radio is the new 'utility' backup for public safety communications. While these entrants do boost the numbers, which is the ARRL goal, they serve no other purpose in amateur radio, except for frequent misuse of it...."
I am not here to bash anyone. I agree with the author's premise that uninterested masses do not help advance the hobby; however, I do feel having more folks is much better than the alternative, and I believe it does help to preserve the amateur service if only by increasing the bottom line numbers the bureaucrats see. I'm sure the author is speaking from his experience and when looking at a group of any size one can find a way to make the sample fit the conclusion. I choose to look for the good. Find the one in ten in then newcomers that does have a desire to pursue the hobby. Befriend them and help them out. Pass along the wisdom you've gotten from those that helped you. Take the effort you have gleaned from others and invested in the hobby and share it. It's one of the best parts of ham radio. The more you learn about something, the more you appreciate it.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Got Birdies... here's one valuable tip
I gleaned this from a Yahoo Group that I subscribe to. I tried this suggestion on my setup and it worked as advertised. Below is reprinted unmodified from the Yahoo Group post:
If you have BIG BIG birdies/tone on certain fixed freqs on 20 metres at approx 14.090/029/091/151 and 14.213mhz and other various freqs etc and you use cat5 cable network and you think it is from your modem... it probably is not, it is those very dirty 100mb NIC chips in your NIC in the computer. To fix it, try changing the speed to 10mb and it disappears instantly!!
CONTROL PANEL/SYSTEM/DEVICE MANAGER/NETWORK ADAPTERS... RIGHT CLICK ON NIC,/PROPERTIES/ADVANCED then possibly SPEED/DUPLEX SETTINGS [or similar words] snoop around to find the 10mb full duplex or similar setting and change the speed to 10mb full duplex, apply etc....VOILA! if it was the NIC the birdies have GONE. or use wireless LAN and it fixes it as well providing you have no other cat 5 in the NICS in the house running at 100mb cheers graham VK6RO
That's it! It worked for me. Not only on HF but 6 meters as well. Hope this helps anyone else running a wired home network like I do.
If you have BIG BIG birdies/tone on certain fixed freqs on 20 metres at approx 14.090/029/091/151 and 14.213mhz and other various freqs etc and you use cat5 cable network and you think it is from your modem... it probably is not, it is those very dirty 100mb NIC chips in your NIC in the computer. To fix it, try changing the speed to 10mb and it disappears instantly!!
CONTROL PANEL/SYSTEM/DEVICE MANAGER/NETWORK ADAPTERS... RIGHT CLICK ON NIC,/PROPERTIES/ADVANCED then possibly SPEED/DUPLEX SETTINGS [or similar words] snoop around to find the 10mb full duplex or similar setting and change the speed to 10mb full duplex, apply etc....VOILA! if it was the NIC the birdies have GONE. or use wireless LAN and it fixes it as well providing you have no other cat 5 in the NICS in the house running at 100mb cheers graham VK6RO
That's it! It worked for me. Not only on HF but 6 meters as well. Hope this helps anyone else running a wired home network like I do.
Monday, February 23, 2009
More SSTV
Just a few more images I have received at the QTH. These are all from the last week. Like Jeff commented on the net, it is amazing how vivid these images can be over HF. Most of these signals are no more than S5. The Star Trek images are from a QSO with Jean, VE2JCW who is NW of Montreal, Canada. What can I say but lots of fun!!
73,
James
KCØTQD
Sunday, February 15, 2009
SSTV on HF
Well, after finally getting around to setting up a PSK station and really having a lot of fun with that, it occurred to me that all I needed to do for SSTV was to load the software. So I did. In a matter of minutes, I was getting some really cool pictures from all over the place on 14.230 MHz. As a matter of fact, the first picture I received after loading MMSSTV (great software as far as I, the beginner, am concerned)was from EA2JO in Spain. Following are the images I received for the next few minutes.
Pretty cool, those are two of the better images from the exchange. Following are a few more that I was able to receive.
For those that haven't seen the movie "The Dark Knight", the last image is from that movie. You never know what you will see come across. I have ended up in the past 24 hours receiving about 30 images on 20 Meters SSB.
For anyone that would like to give SSTV a shot, there are a few good sites to check out.
First of all, www.AC6V.com is a great reference for ham radio in general, and if you haven't tried it I highly recommend it. The MMSSTV software is available for free from JE3HHT's website. Also I have found additional info at Hamuniverse - Intro to Slow Scan TV. The Hamuniverse site has some good info on how to play with SSTV without even using a standard interface; although I would recommend at the very least a cable with 1/8" headphone jacks on each end to plug into the external speaker port on the radio and on the line-in on your computer.
Have fun!!
73,
James
KCØTQD
Pretty cool, those are two of the better images from the exchange. Following are a few more that I was able to receive.
For those that haven't seen the movie "The Dark Knight", the last image is from that movie. You never know what you will see come across. I have ended up in the past 24 hours receiving about 30 images on 20 Meters SSB. For anyone that would like to give SSTV a shot, there are a few good sites to check out.
First of all, www.AC6V.com is a great reference for ham radio in general, and if you haven't tried it I highly recommend it. The MMSSTV software is available for free from JE3HHT's website. Also I have found additional info at Hamuniverse - Intro to Slow Scan TV. The Hamuniverse site has some good info on how to play with SSTV without even using a standard interface; although I would recommend at the very least a cable with 1/8" headphone jacks on each end to plug into the external speaker port on the radio and on the line-in on your computer.
Have fun!!
73,
James
KCØTQD
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
20 dB for $48.60
This is from one of my favorite Ham technical writers, Steven Katz, WB2WIK/6. I find his comments informative, accurate, and entertaining. This article he wrote for eHam.net does a very good job of describing the benefit of radials on a vertical antenna system.
20 dB for $48.60
from Steve Katz, WB2WIK on January 18, 2009
read the whole thing here: http://www.eham.net/articles/20850
Overview
Antennas, antennas, antennas!
They are our transducers to the ether, and are what make our wireless equipment work. Yet, for various reasons, many hams seem unconcerned about them.
Deed restrictions (CC&Rs) are probably a leading cause of hams having poor antennas, although plain old apathy seems at least as big a problem. Budget should never be the problem, since so many excellent antennas are available as used items either very cheaply or free, and of course some great designs can be homebrewed for almost nothing. And we find that often times, the ham with no antenna had enough of a budget to buy a $1000 radio. Hmph.
This subject is too vast to address in a brief article, so I'll focus on a single, popular design: HF Vertical Antennas. Even more specifically, inexpensive HF vertical antennas which are typically base-fed, trapped or loaded designs requiring a counterpoise or image plane in order to function properly. Among all the commercial designs on the market, the Hustler 4BTV-5BTV-6BTV are likely the best bang for the buck products currently out there, although Butternut HF6V-HF9V, Hy-Gain 12AVQ-14AVQ-18VS and DX88, and others can be good deals, too.
The products listed, and other popular commercial models, have one thing in common: They are not ground-independent, and have no factory supplied counterpoise. They are trapped or loaded, base-fed antennas that not only work better with radials, they work only with radials.
Any antenna can make contacts. Good ones make stronger, longer-distance contacts more reliably. With a 100W transmitter and a good antenna, many of the signal reports you receive should be `Wow, great signal - very, very strong, S9+ here.' If you don't commonly get such reports, you're definitely missing out on a lot of stuff that could be worked, but you're not going to hear it, and it's not going to hear you, either. A simple, inexpensive vertical antenna can produce such reports, repeatedly. The difference between a vertical that does get the `you're blowing me out of my chair' reports and one that doesn't is simple deployment.
20 dB for $48.60
from Steve Katz, WB2WIK on January 18, 2009
read the whole thing here: http://www.eham.net/articles/20850
Overview
Antennas, antennas, antennas!
They are our transducers to the ether, and are what make our wireless equipment work. Yet, for various reasons, many hams seem unconcerned about them.
Deed restrictions (CC&Rs) are probably a leading cause of hams having poor antennas, although plain old apathy seems at least as big a problem. Budget should never be the problem, since so many excellent antennas are available as used items either very cheaply or free, and of course some great designs can be homebrewed for almost nothing. And we find that often times, the ham with no antenna had enough of a budget to buy a $1000 radio. Hmph.
This subject is too vast to address in a brief article, so I'll focus on a single, popular design: HF Vertical Antennas. Even more specifically, inexpensive HF vertical antennas which are typically base-fed, trapped or loaded designs requiring a counterpoise or image plane in order to function properly. Among all the commercial designs on the market, the Hustler 4BTV-5BTV-6BTV are likely the best bang for the buck products currently out there, although Butternut HF6V-HF9V, Hy-Gain 12AVQ-14AVQ-18VS and DX88, and others can be good deals, too.
The products listed, and other popular commercial models, have one thing in common: They are not ground-independent, and have no factory supplied counterpoise. They are trapped or loaded, base-fed antennas that not only work better with radials, they work only with radials.
Any antenna can make contacts. Good ones make stronger, longer-distance contacts more reliably. With a 100W transmitter and a good antenna, many of the signal reports you receive should be `Wow, great signal - very, very strong, S9+ here.' If you don't commonly get such reports, you're definitely missing out on a lot of stuff that could be worked, but you're not going to hear it, and it's not going to hear you, either. A simple, inexpensive vertical antenna can produce such reports, repeatedly. The difference between a vertical that does get the `you're blowing me out of my chair' reports and one that doesn't is simple deployment.
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