Propagation on 2m has been very good. Six has also been showing signs of life, with good trans-equatorial propagation on WSPR. For the moment, more northerly latitudes in the UK - like me - have to be content with the occasional weak signal from within the country. M0EMM at -27db and G3NFB at -25dB were my first 2015 six metre WSPR contacts, but they didn't hear me. They were probably just aircraft reflections, anyway!
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| A few fishing rod spreaders and some wire. 6m fun, the cheap way! |
Of course, all my six metre activity comes courtesy of a bargain-basement, homebrew 2 element quad. A 1/4 matching stub yields a flat, 1:1 SWR, and it's really proven its worth on Es, meteor scatter, and even aurora scatter recently. Best of all, it flies through the worst hurricane-force winds with barely a ripple; it's now in its fourth season, with no damage.
2 comments:
Wow John, that looks like a good performer on 6. Just how many antennas and masts do you have. I've seen some photos on qrz.com. But think that's only half of it. 73, Bas
Hi Bas! Ha! Mine is a very basic station, with the simple aim of using only naturally good antennas, usually with no ATU use - and not much money, of course! Everything has to be robust in the face of very strong winds.
I only have the 12m beam, vpol deltas for 20, 17 and 15, and a quarter wave elevated radials GP to keep me going on the windiest days on 20m. Oh, and a 80/60/30m inv-L, which only goes up when I need it in winter. On VHF, I only have a homebrew SlimJim at present, though the 5 ele quad for 2m needs replacing soon!
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