[TenTec] Field Day and "6N2"

Duane Grotophorst n9dg@yahoo.com
Mon, 25 Jun 2001 18:55:16 -0700 (PDT)



I have noticed that field day ops are some of the
worst for crowding the calling frequencies on VHF and
UHF. I can only attribute that behavior to many of the
operators being primarily HF operators where normal
contesting means "elbowing" your way into a little
crack in the band somewhere. Truthfully it really does
work against you to do that on VHF and UHF, especially
if you are running low power. Fortunately the
operating habits of most operators during normal VHF
contests are much better. This last June VHF
sweepstakes I was finding and working guys well up to
50.250. More than once I would work someone lower in
the band around 50.150 or so only to have three or
four others calling me, rather than fight an already
crowded frequency I would immediately announce that I
was going up the band to 50.250 KHz (or higher).
Almost all of them would follow me up there and I'd
easily work a whole string of QSO's in rapid-fire
sequence.

It will be interesting to see how well everybody likes
their 526's. Has anyone done any comparisons to the
Pegasus or Jupiter in terms of basic RX and RF
performance?

I was thinking about a 526 until I found it had no
computer control capability, a MAJOR omission on Ten
Tec's Part. I really do hope that they put
Pegasus/Jupiter-like (or better) computer control
features into the 516.

 Duane
 N9DG
 

--- "Simmons, Reid W" <reid.w.simmons@intel.com>
wrote:
> 
> Jim;
> 
> I used to work a lot of 6 meters back in the 60s
> (mostly AM back then) and
> the band usage was pretty much the same except that
> people used to cluster
> between 50.200 - 50.250 MHz.  I always thought it
> was because most hams were
> used to the "slivers" of frequencies available to us
> in the HF region and
> they just couldn't get used to all the "wide open
> space" on 6 and 2.  Kind
> of like when a life-long big city dweller moves out
> into the country. :-)
> 
> Reid, K7YX
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Lowman [mailto:jmlowman@ix.netcom.com]
> Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2001 1:52 PM
> To: wg6h@pacbell.net
> Cc: tentec list
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Field Day and "6N2"
> 
> 
> 
> Bill Miner wrote:
> > 
> > Jim,
> > 
> > Thanks for the Field day report on the T-T 6N2.  I
> have mine on order
> > but don't expect to receive it until sometime in
> July.
> 
> What's the lead time these days?  Seems like it took
> about 10 days-two
> weeks to make it to SoCal from the time of ordering.
>  
> > Can you give any information on how the 6N2
> receiver performed on a
> > crowded band and also in the high RF envirnment
> you must have had at
> > 7000 ft?
> 
> By no means am I an expert on VHF - just enjoy using
> those bands 
> occasionally - but it never ceases to amaze me the
> way that stations
> cluster in such a limited portion of the band during
> FD.  Most on 6m
> were found between 50.125 MHz and 50.175 MHz, when
> the bandplan allows for
> SSB pretty much up to 50.600 MHz.  One station was
> calling CQ on 50.180
> and went begging.  He had a strong signal and I had
> no apparent 
> competition for his attention, so it was an easy
> contact.  On 2m it's even
> worse; everyone seems to stay within 20 kHz of the
> 144.200 MHz calling
> frequency, with many right on it.  Perhaps someone
> can explain this to me.
> Is this also the case during VHF contests?  I'm more
> accustomed to the
> wall-to-wall signals on HF during a contest.
> 
> It seemed to pull in the weak ones well, and I
> simply failed to utilize
> the 35 IF-DSP filters to separate the competing
> signals on a given
> frequency.
> 
> As to the high RF environment, we set up in a
> campground on the Angeles
> National Forest that's pretty remote.  There are a
> couple of sites on
> nearby Blue Ridge, but I didn't notice any problems.
> 
> We're going up to northern California, near
> Sacramento, for a week-long
> vacation soon.  There is apparently a lot more
> activity on 2m up there
> (outside of contests) than there is in SoCal.  I'll
> have a chance to try
> out the 2m capabilities then.
> 
> 73 de Jim - AD6CW
> 
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