| As an amateur radio enthusiast, I explore new
areas of interest. The latest is the 6 meter band. With
the rise of Solar Cycle 24, this is the time for sideband
and cw contacts as band conditions slowly improve. Since 1974, I have
DX'ed many FM and TV stations through many types of propagation
like tropo, meteor, lightning, especially sporadic E. Two
years ago I purchased an Icom 706 mk2 for hf mobile and for
storm chasing. In the shack I use it on 6 and 2 meter sideband.
Earlier this summer I made a 6 meter dipole which worked great,
but I needed more gain, so I purchased a Cushcraft A505S 6
element yagi. I tuned it to the 50-51 MHz portion of the band.
The SWR is a flat 1:1 ratio at 100 watts. It is up 30 feet and
performs well. Eventually it will be mounted atop a 50-60 foot
crank up tower with 2 meter horizontal and vertical yagi's. My
first qso's during the June 2010 VHF Contest was N5RZ grid DM91
in Midland, Texas and off the back side of the beam was VO1KVT
grid GN29 in Newfoundland, Canada. My first Aurora contact was
K1MAA grid FN41 in Connecticut.
(October 2010)
|
July 2010 - I purchased a new Cushcraft A505S 6 meter yagi.
The dipole still works great but I needed more gain and just
in time for the next VHF Contest coming in September. It
took 3 hours to assemble and a half hour to tune. The
instruction manual lists 2 ways to assemble it, horizontal
and vertical, with 3 tuning areas between 50-54 MHz. Here is
the antenna, hardware and 50 feet of coax that was shipped
from Amateur Electronic Supply. |
|
|
It
seems to be a big antenna but only weighs11 pounds. It's
still smaller than the A506S with only 1 dBi more gain. |
|
Antenna tuned
just fine atop a 2 foot cardboard box 4 feet above ground.
|
Antenna
was tuned with the Icom 706mkII up to 100 watts. The S.W.R. was nearly
flat from 50.0 to 51.2 MHz.. Slightly higher above 52 MHz,
if I need to use a FM repeater (input), it will be horizontally polarized.
Below:
Once I finished tuning the antenna, I sealed everything with
coax seal. |
|
Checking the S.W.R.
with 115 watts of power.
|
|
6 Meter
QSL Verifications
|
|
Top 250
|
50
MHz |
UTC
|
Spotter
|
Comment
|
| N2KNL |
50135.0
|
03
Jan 21:17 |
W0BLD |
EM37<>FN41 |
| KF8RU |
50130.0
|
03
Jan 21:16 |
K4NAM |
EM70VN<ES>EN74
58 w/QSB |
| N2TRX |
50135.0
|
03
Jan 21:16 |
W0BLD |
EM37<>FN30 |
| K2LCK |
50135.0
|
03
Jan 21:16 |
W0BLD |
EM37<>FN30 |
| K5AM/B |
50060.0
|
03
Jan 21:16 |
K8MM |
EM10
> EN83 |
| KF8MY |
50125.0
|
03
Jan 21:15 |
W4IMD |
EN84-EM84 |
| WB2BTO |
50125.0
|
03
Jan 21:16 |
W0BLD |
EM37<>FN21 |
|
|
|
|
|
6 Meter QSL's
VO1SO Newfoundland -
First 6 meter Atlantic Canada Sporadic Es QSL Verification
VE2XK Quebec -First 6 meter
AURORA QSL Verification
First contact with the 6m yagi on the tower
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