This is a response to several posts. First off Yagis. There are some newer
people that seem to lean towards loops. I have tried to steer them toward
yagis with limited success. It should become obvious to them, after a while,
that the yagi is a much better deal. The greatest incentive I have ever
had in ham radio is to hear somebody work a station that I could not hear.
These people that are getting on with loops, if they are really interested,
will progress.
As to the people that are using HF antennas. Around here there are several
stations that are using HF antennas, on 6M. Some of them think, what they
have is wonderful. There is a 6M SSB net, in a nearby community, that I
check into, whenever my schedule permits. I am the only participant that I
would call a weak signal op. All different types of antennas are used by the
net participants - 500 foot horizontal loops, HF verticals, yagis, you name
it. Listening to the net, from 20 miles away, a 6M dipole is somewhere
around 20 db above one of the HF antennas. On two occasions I tried to give
one
of these guys a real 6M antenna. He turned me down, because he knew his
160M loop was a much better antenna. This situation needs some work.
Verticals: You talk to the guy with the multi band, multi mode radio. He
has never pressed the SSB button above 10M. But, he has a 440/2M ground
plane. I explain about how much further you can talk on SSB. "I tried it, I
couldn't hear anybody and the SWR was sky high", is what I get back. He/she is
disgusted with the local repeater denizens. But, he/she is unwilling to
make the investment in a horizontal antenna, that is resonant on the low end
of the band. I don't know what to say to these folks.
Two meters is for repeaters only: I have one friend who was licensed in the
early days of the VEC program. When he got his license, the president of
the club told him, "Buy a 2M/440 dual band FM radio, that's all you need".
My friend says he would have missed out on a lot of fun, had he followed
this person's advice. Many hams whole world revolves around the local
repeaters. There is so much more to ham radio than talking on a repeater. Weak
signal work is just one of the many, many things you can do with Amateur
Radio.
We should encourage people to get out of the repeater sandbox and try
other bands and modes.
Just about every HF radio, manufactured in the last 15 years has 6M. I
think that is the place to start. Encourage people to put up a simple
horizontal dipole for 6M and push the SSB button on their radio. Some
percentage of
them will get interested in weak signal work.
Above all, when new people show up on, 6M or 2M, we should make them feel
welcome. Many of the "tinkers", mentioned in earlier posts, when they do get
on the air, could be a lot more friendly.
A long harangue. But getting more activity is a subject that is dear to me.
Buddy WB4OMG
EL 98
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