[UK-CONTEST] 50MHz 1st contest observations

[Steve Jones]

Nice to hear that you are active again Alex

Having used 6m as my main band as gm0gei between 88 and end of 91 I can concur that it was difficult to get most people to turn their beams up to the north, except when there was au

Running an 8 ele yagi on 6m then from io73 Anglesey and a 12 ele on 2m between 92 and 09 I also found that I had to run qro on both bands to get any sort of attention and to get people to turn their beams to the west coast. On the more positive side I used to always get a reply or two when running qro on 6m, whereas 2m was really hard work on a flat band despite being able to hear PA beacon. 

However in the last five years or so I did notice a big drop in people coming back to me on 6m as most on both bands appeared to have shifted to the fsk wsjt parts of the band and be sitting on on4kst. I joined in for a while and had a bit of fun on 2m and on 6m ms, but the novelty wore off pretty quickly

A job and house move during 2009 finds me at the bottom of a valley in south west Wales, where I have yet to hear any signal on 2m or 6m ! However, a back to basics approach to lf/hf and having neighbours again is in itself a challenge, and there is life on 10m at present even rx on a 40m dipole shoved out of the bedroom window, so I can feel a rejuvenation process starting with a return to the challenge of 10m, and an eventual return to 6m (albeit with a smaller more neighbour friendly antenna system). At least the annual sp es season provides some entertainment from EU on 10m and 6m, even if the rest of the year is quiet.

Once the spots start going again look out for my qrp signal on 6m aurora!

73

Steve GW0GEI in the valley bottom at Lampeter, west Wales





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Message Received: Apr 12 2010, 10:06 AM
From: "Alex GM3ZBE" 
To: "uk-contest at contesting.com" 
Cc: 
Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 50MHz 1st contest observations


Hi
I've recently become a bit more interested in 6M again, I was one of the 
original 40 special licence holders and for many years almost 
exclusively on 50MHz. So its interesting to see how things are now.

I've noticed two things in the last two inter UK contests I've dabbled in.

One - Is that, viewed from this end at any rate, a number of G stations 
seemed very deaf? I'm running a Yaesu Quadra and am on an excellent vhf 
site, 200M asl with a clear shot over the sea to the south. Yet 
stations which are genuinely reading S3 to S5 or more on my S meter 
simply do not hear me. Despite repeated calls they continue to call CQ 
in my face! Are they suffering from high noise level or running much 
higher power than me? The only station who appeared to hear me at the 
same level as I heard them was G6YB/P.

Two - Is that I get the impression there are many stations running poor 
antennas and/or low power, I hear the stronger G stations working lots 
of other G's who are simply completely inaudible. In the couple of 
hours I was on I only heard about 15 stations who were making it up to 
Scotland. By the way I lived in various locations in England for 17 
years so I am well aware of what conditions are like at both ends of the 
UK on VHF!

Compared to when I was last active on 50MHz, inter UK activity generally 
seems very low - I get the impression everybody is looking at the 
cluster and waiting for sporadic E or F2 Propagation or just listening 
all the time? Its a bit like 10M, there is an almost HF like attitude 
to 6M now, unless there is spor E or F2 prop, nobody is interested?

-- 

Alex, GM3ZBE ~~~~ Kingdom of Fife ~~~ IO86lf ~~~
Member of:
De Montfort University ARS,
Kingdom Amateur Radio Society (KARS)
GMDX Group, CDXC, Aberdeen ARS
Previous callsigns GM8BYG, G3ZBE
Holder of GM4BRN club call.

Remember..............It's only a hobby!
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