Lessons Learned for 6 meters

[Nashua Area Radio Society]

Here are some brief points about 6 meter operation…while I still remember them.

Distance

• Sections worked extended to ME, VT, ENY, NNJ, NLI.
• ENY and NNJ were rare, EMA, WMA, CT were common
• Don’t recall an RI contact
• Limited Sporadic E

Signals

• We seemed to hear much better than other stations
• Maybe the site has lower noise
• Maybe the 746 and 7300 are better than average radios

Digital modes

• No contacts, very disappointing
• Meteors were common
• Heard 1000W station at about 1 ping per 15 seconds but he could not hear us with 100W

Operating

• Everyone went to bed at midnight, overnight operation not useful
• Mostly call CQ with voice keyer, maintain presence
• Select calling frequency away from 50.125, and between common channels, like 50.1425, to minimize chance distant station have a local on same freq that we can’t hear

Transceivers

• Spectrum display of 7300 very nice for search and pounce
• N1MM+ and my Linux laptop not compatible, 🙁

Antenna

• 4 element beam worked normally even though close to tribander
• Uniform spacing of elements is a very old design
• Thick wall boom makes for a heavy design
• Need more gain

Assistance

• Nice to see DxMaps display of Sporadic E
• Negotiated several MS contact tries without success

Possible Station Improvements

• Hilltop location could double contact totals by making ENY, NLI, NNJ more common
• Hollis High School at about 500 ft, Birch Hill in NW Hollis at 800 ft, but wooded and no roads, House on Summit Ln has a large back yard at 800 ft (ham?)
• Need more antenna to make digital modes work
• Suggest lightweight 6 elements at the top of the tower
• Suggest 2nd lightweight 6 el mounted at about 25 feet point fixed on 260 deg
• Use upper/lower/both switch to combine antennas

[Fred Kemmerer]

A very good set of Lesson Learned Jeff – thank you for posting it. We will keep working to improve on 6m setup for Field Day.

73,

[Fred Kemmerer]

A very good set of Lesson Learned Jeff – thank you for posting it. We will keep working to improve on 6m setup for Field Day.

73,

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