<div dir="ltr">I see in my "Nifty! Quick-Reference" manual that there's a West Coast FM Simplex Calling Frequency on 50.300. It would be interesting<div>to compare local ground wave coverage on 6 FM to 2 meters FM. Technicians can operate anywhere on the 6 meter band, I think.</div><div><br></div><div>Jeff, it's absolutely true that when radio signals come back from the ionosphere it makes no difference what their original polarization was.</div><div><br></div><div>73, Randy</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 10:44 PM Randy Tomer <<a href="mailto:w6ra.randy@gmail.com">w6ra.randy@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 10:32 PM Jeff Moore <<a href="mailto:tnetcenter@gmail.com" target="_blank">tnetcenter@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">I still have a 6m vertical antenna in my inventory as well as a homebrew 10m dipole and a wire 6m ground plane also homebrew. I used the 6m wire ground plane on SSB phone and the vertical was tuned to the FM portion of the 6m band. I kind of like 6m FM for local use - it has a ground wave component as well as normal propagation similar to 2m. Because of that, you can work longer distances simplex. And when the band opens it is truly "magic"! My first DX contact was using the 6m wire ground plane. I heard a guy operating mobile out of Arizona. I tried to work him but no luck, but a couple of minutes after that, I heard another Arizona station and managed to actually work him before the band shifted to Southern California. I think I worked a couple more Cali stations before the band closed down. It was awesome!!! When I first tried to get on 6m, I was worried about antenna polarity, but one of the older hams told me that once the signal leaves your antenna and hit the ionosphere - the polarization is twisted, so for DX, antenna polarization is not as important as having an efficient antenna to start with.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div>I agree with Randy on the use of vertical antennas for local comms whether HF or VHF - that would work for both 10m and 6m. I tried some local 10m FM in the past, but for local use, the dipole wasn't that great and it also caused a lot of RFI in the shack(no common-mode choke). <br></div><div><br></div><div>7 3</div><div>Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY</div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 9:48 PM Randy Tomer <<a href="mailto:w6ra.randy@gmail.com" target="_blank">w6ra.randy@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Paul, there used to be a local get together on 10 meters, I think it was once a week but I can't remember the frequency.<div>The problem with doing cross town HF is the cross polarization distortion and signal loss due to some operators using</div><div>horizontally polarized antennas (dipoles and yagis) and others using vertically polarized antennas such as multi band</div><div>verticals and mobile antennas. It's been my opinion for a long time that the accepted polarization for local use should</div><div>be vertical since that's what mobiles use and many newer hams use an hf vertical. The same applies for local 6 meter use.</div><div>I seldom took part in local 10 meters because of the cross polarization annoyance.</div><div>10 meter FM was also experimented with and is a fun mode on 10 but is located far out of the Technician part of the band.</div><div>I've always liked 28400 kHz as it's in common use, in the Technician band, and is a watering hole frequency, so that if</div><div>locals are using it and the band opens for dx people from out of the area can join in. That provides some fun operating.</div><div><br></div><div>73, Randy W6RA</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 7:23 PM Dave Green <<a href="mailto:dgreen357@gmail.com" target="_blank">dgreen357@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">This is just my humble opinion, but as a fairly new Tech (hope to be General next month), one of the big draws for new people to the hobby is the availability of the cheap dual band radios. 2m and 440 are commonly used all over the place and as I understand it, 10m is not so common, and would require another radio and antenna. This may be an issue for some people. <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">73</div><div dir="auto">KT7DOC </div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 6:39 PM Paul <<a href="mailto:designer@quickdata.com" target="_blank">designer@quickdata.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">When I was a lad (60 years ago - good golly, how the time flies when you <br>
are having fun), besides listening to "Donna" reel the boys in on 75/40M <br>
from Twisp, I ragchewed with a group in Portland on 10M. The band was <br>
good enough for local - in city - contacts. Quieter than the lower <br>
bands. And it showed the FCC (as if they cared) that 10M was being used. <br>
Note that we used to have 11M too; but that went to CB'ers. It's all <br>
good; CB has it's place.<br>
<br>
So if the change over hiss on the 2M repeaters starts to get unnerving, <br>
perhaps HiDARG can establish a 10M QSO watering hole. Techs can use it <br>
too and it might wet their appetite for a General license.<br>
<br>
Just a thought.<br>
<br>
73,<br>
Paul/K7NHB<br>
<br>
-- <br>
For those who risk, life has a flavor the protected shall ne'er enjoy.<br>
<br>
<br>
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