Nevada is back on the air since I homebrewed and installed a 6 ele 6M yagi at
25' on the morning of the contest.
Yesterday I dug my 12ele 2M yagi out from under a foot of snow and mounted it
on the tower trailer above the 6M antenna.
Currently using a 100W K3 on 6M CW, SSB, & WSJT modes. My 746 got zapped and
now puts out 1.2W on all bands so it will be a while till I am QRV again with
any real power on 144 MHz.
Now if I can get you all to remember to point east again, that's the real
message.
Best of luck and stay warm!
73s de Tim - K7XC - DM09jh... sk
Adapt, Overcome, Succeed!
Sent from my MetroPCS 4G Android device
-------- Original message --------
From: Tom Carney <wa4qvq@gmail.com>
Date:02/01/2016 18:58 (GMT-08:00)
To: Bill Haddon <haddon.bill@gmail.com>, NCCC reflector <nccc@contesting.com>
Cc:
Subject: Re: [NCCC] Jan VHF contest
Hi Bill
To try and answer your questions:
As for power, like most modes, the more the better. However, 100w is probably
the most common power for for stations using MS. You can work most western
states (except NV/OR) with 100w. Optimal range for MS is 400 to 1000 miles
under normal conditions. It's definitely not a QRP mode. I use a KPA-500 and
frequently can often be heard by stations that I can't hear.
Mode is one of the Joe Taylor modes. Currently it's FSK-441 which is somewhat
similar to PSK-31 but optimized for MS propagation. This is a really slow
mode, you transmit for 30 sec, then listen for 30 sec. As a minimum it takes
four to five minutes to complete a QSO. My QSO with the NE station took over
ten minutes. There is an experimental mode that promises to be much faster but
it's still in test phase.
Time, are you an early bird? Most MS activity is from about 30 prior to
sunrise to two hours after. Has something to do with the rotation of the earth
but I've never understood it exactly. For me, the early morning hours are
quieter, less human noise. Most any modern transceiver has a good enough front
end, you don't normally need some kind of pre-amp. I use a standard K3 which
is a bit deaf on 6M. If you are in a quiet location, a pre-amp would help.
For an antenna, I'd recommend a four or more element beam. Although some
people have a simple vertical or dipole.
Hope this helps
73,
Tom K6EU
On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 6:24 PM, Bill Haddon <haddon.bill@gmail.com> wrote:
Tom,
I'd be interested, if you have time, to hear more about the meteor scatter Q's
on 6m in ARRL VHF Contest:
-- how much power
-- mode?
-- what hours on Sunday morning.
Thanks and 73 Bill n6zfo
On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 5:20 PM, Tom Carney <wa4qvq@gmail.com> wrote:
I had hoped to operate this contest as a rover but family obligations, etc
prevented prepping the rover vehicle. So, at the last minute, tried to set up
for fixed operation. When I tried to install the 2 and 432 beams, I discovered
the push up mask was frozen and would not extend.
Since this was the first contest since the rules change to allow operation on
the 2M FM calling frequency (146.52) I just put up an old Ringo vertical
instead of the horizontal beams.
I was really surprised at the number of FM contacts I made in about two hour of
just listening and responding on 146.52. There were multiple rovers on who had
driven to a hill top, even one hiker using a HT. Also several ham who were
just driving somewhere and got on to hand out QSOs. In total I made 12 QSOs on
FM. All but one were callsigns I didn't recognize, thus stations who normally
would not have been on during the contest.
Sunday morning I spend an hour or so working meteor scatter on 6M. Worked most
of the states west of the Rockies except OR and NV. Best contact was DN81 in
NE at over 1000 miles.
Total 26 QSOs and 13 mults for 338.
73,
Tom K6EU
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