Six metres

I have been making an aerial for 6m. How many chasers have that band available I wonder?

73

Richard
G3CWI

In reply to G3CWI:
(Hand shoots up) Me! Me! Me! (Favourite summer band)

73

Brian G8ADD

PS I have a couple of lengths of stiff wire with crocodile clips one end, they clip on the end of a 2m dipole which then loads well on six for /P, but I’m thinking about a Moxon rectangle for portable work.

In reply to G3CWI:
Six is open right now if you want to test it, Richard.

73

Brian G8ADD

Wonder what the antenna is Richard? I only have a 1/2 end fed vertical which I made from a modified CB antenna (Silver Rod)at the moment. 1st station I worked was Italy (59/59) on 2.5w from the FT-817 so I figured it was working okay.
Only had a couple of SOTA contacts on 6m so far so will be looking for you. I now have the Icom 706mkIIG so a little more power than the 817 :slight_smile: though possibly I should keep to 50w so as not to melt the loading coil.

Regards Steve GW7AAV

In reply to GW7AAV:

A delta loop. I will put the dimensions and details of the matching system here shortly. I can hear lots of stations from Eu but best DX so far is Warrington.

73

Richard

In reply to G3CWI:

Plugged in the key and worked S5 and I. Loop works. Now for a SOTA activation.

In reply to G3CWI:

Hi Richard

I have found that my Hustler 5 band vertical loads up quite nicely on 6, and tests would suggest that it resonates quite well also.
I’ll be looking for you if/when you try an activation.
Your homebrew antenna sounds very interesting.

73 Mike GW0DSP

In reply to G3CWI:
Richard I dabble in 6m during summer E’s.
As I know you are into IT solutions have at Live MUF V7 (google it) a handy tool for seeing what’s happening on 6m in real time over a broadband connection. It has predictive information as to where 6m contacts should be available from your QTH.
To paraphrase a Cheshire operator when I asked how to set up webmon ’ anyone with a basic knowledge of computers should be able to work it out for themselves’ (very tongue in cheek :slight_smile: )
Roger G4OWG

In reply to G4OWG:
Hi all

You have a picture for your sota 50mhz antenna i’m very intersting for a next sota activity.
Best 73’s
Manu F4FLQ

In reply to G3CWI:
Richard,

I use a telescopic dipole for 6m on the tops. When the band is open it works fine. Usually only hear stations in S. Europe, very few ever worked within the UK.
ALWAYS receive a 59 report on 6m no matter how many attempts it takes to get my details across.

Regards,
Robin, GM7PKT

In reply to G3CWI:

Never worked a SOTA station on six, but did qualify SE-003 a couple of summers ago with four QSOs on the band. Used my FT-817 with a telescopic whip that time, but my Elecraft T1 ATU will resonate a long wire on 6m - all I have to do is be on a summit when the band is open again!

From home I have 100 watts and a 3-element beam, so any activators around the SE summits will be welcome prey on the band.

73 de Les, G3VQO

Did try 6 from Winter Hill (where else) once with a very makeshift dipole mounted on 3 garden bamboo canes (about 1.5m tall). This made it rotateable (ish) and worked very well with the 817 providing qsos into Italy.

Also had a couple of 6m FM contacts from the handheld + duck, but these were very local <5miles or so.

My thought - exciting when open, dead when not.

Ian
G7ADF

In reply to G3CWI:

Hi Richard,
I have just put a horizontal dipole up for 6m. Never worked a SOTA station on 6m, so you might be the first.

Regards,
Phil. m0vey

In reply to G3CWI:
Hello
I’m testing the 6m on cr257
the 06-21-07 at 17:15 utc no body only
one beacon from oz listen with my V antenna.
I’m search a litle 6m beam for the next activity.
Best 73’s
Manu F4flq

In reply to F4FLQ:
I saw your self spots Manu and I was listening for you, but nothing heard :0(

I worked Richard on the Gun but he seemed to have picked the time when 6m was the quietest it has been for days.

I wondered if there was a reason Richard chose to feed the Delta loop from the centre of the base of the triangle as opposed to inverting it and feeding at the point?
With it being a full wave loop, is there no advantage to making it a quad shape? For some reason my head tells me 4 x 1/4 waves is better than 3 x 1/3 waves although it probably makes no difference. The impedance of a diamond quad fed at the corner can be adjusted to 50ohms by squashing the square into a diamond shape with the shorter gap opposite the feed point. It is also a little more compact when on the mast than the Delta.

I also wonder if 6m FM would be worth a try as there are a lot of people with tri/quad band mobiles these days, not that I have listened much to the FM bit of 6m so I’m not sure of the activity levels.

Regards Steve GW7AAV

In reply to GW7AAV:

Steve

The performance of a loop is often said to be related to the contained area, however the differences are very small between a square and a triangle. The method I used was based on experience of what might be easy to use in the field. A diamond would be equally usable but other shapes tend to be tricky to support. The centre-point feed allows the feeder to be supported by the mast which tends to increase reliability. The delta gets the feedpoint a little higher than a diamond but I suspect they perform equally well (or badly).

I did experiment with an inverted Vee configuration but the feedpoint impedance is very dependent on the Vee angle and it did not meet my requirements for something that would work reliably anywhere I wanted to go.

So now you know!

73

Richard

In reply to G3CWI:

Cheers Richard it is always interesting to hear how people arrive at the configuration they use. Sometimes one person’s thought processes can bring up something new that you have not thought of.

I was thinking of maybe trying a double diamond configuration, 2x corner fed quads like a figure 8. I could do with an analyser though, but I bought a GPS when I had the chance instead.

Regards Steve

In reply to G3CWI:

Thanks for this thread Richard, and the antenna ideas, I am inspired to have a go on 6m as a result, according to the forecast looks like about all this weekend will be good for is building antennas…

73 de Paul G4MD

In reply to G4MD:

Six is well worth a try - especially now the Es season is here - people seem to call around 50.150MHz. If only the rain would stop I would be out on the hills.

The delta loop packs up nice and small and is easy to handle.

73

Richard

In reply to GW7AAV:
Steve, I have only ever had one contact on 6m FM, and that was a French station who moved down to the top of the SSB segment during an Es opening to work DX. None of the local 6m repeaters appear to be operational and though I don’t tune the FM segment at all often I have only ever heard one local FM contact. However I’m told there is a lot of 4m FM activity around here!

I use an HB9CV antenna at home, this would be a good /P antenna since it folds down quite small, but it is an absolute pig to tune!

73

Brian G8ADD