[HiDARG-MEMBERS] HF activity

Wed Jan 22 01:51:20 EST 2020

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
to compare local ground wave coverage on 6 FM to 2 meters FM.  Technicians
can operate anywhere on the 6 meter band, I think.

Jeff, it's absolutely true that when radio signals come back from the
ionosphere it makes no difference what their original polarization was.

73, Randy

On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 10:44 PM Randy Tomer <w6ra.randy at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 10:32 PM Jeff Moore <tnetcenter at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>>
>> 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).
>>
>> 7   3
>> Jeff Moore  --  KE7ACY
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 9:48 PM Randy Tomer <w6ra.randy at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> 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.
>>> The problem with doing cross town HF is the cross polarization
>>> distortion and signal loss due to some operators using
>>> horizontally polarized antennas (dipoles and yagis) and others using
>>> vertically polarized antennas such as multi band
>>> verticals and mobile antennas.  It's been my opinion for a long time
>>> that the accepted polarization for local use should
>>> be vertical since that's what mobiles use and many newer hams use an hf
>>> vertical.  The same applies for local 6 meter use.
>>> I seldom took part in local 10 meters because of the cross polarization
>>> annoyance.
>>> 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.
>>> 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
>>> locals are using it and the band opens for dx people from out of the
>>> area can join in.  That provides some fun operating.
>>>
>>> 73, Randy W6RA
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 7:23 PM Dave Green <dgreen357 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>>
>>>> 73
>>>> KT7DOC
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 6:39 PM Paul <designer at quickdata.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> When I was a lad (60 years ago - good golly, how the time flies when
>>>>> you
>>>>> are having fun), besides listening to "Donna" reel the boys in on
>>>>> 75/40M
>>>>> from Twisp, I ragchewed with a group in Portland on 10M. The band was
>>>>> good enough for local - in city - contacts. Quieter than the lower
>>>>> bands. And it showed the FCC (as if they cared) that 10M was being
>>>>> used.
>>>>> Note that we used to have 11M too; but that went to CB'ers. It's all
>>>>> good; CB has it's place.
>>>>>
>>>>> So if the change over hiss on the 2M repeaters starts to get
>>>>> unnerving,
>>>>> perhaps HiDARG can establish a 10M QSO watering hole. Techs can use it
>>>>> too and it might wet their appetite for a General license.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just a thought.
>>>>>
>>>>> 73,
>>>>> Paul/K7NHB
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> For those who risk, life has a flavor the protected shall ne'er enjoy.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> HiDARG-Members at hidarg.org
>>>>> http://hidarg.org/mailman/listinfo/hidarg-members_hidarg.org
>>>>>
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