Antennas for 6 Meters?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I've tried 50.4 with a 10 watt heathkit set, no one on. Not much 6M activity around here, or maybe no one heard me or my antenna is poor. Admit I have not put much effort into it yet. The only other 6M stuff here is military FM.

Over the last 30 years or so, I've seen a total decline of local QSO/ragchew activity on 6 meters. Regional and/or local nets pop up once or twice a week (i.e. "activity night") but not much else. Since the band has always had the peculiarity of BAND IS OPEN - 5 sec, 5 minutes, 5 hours, etc., many monitor 24/7, yet will only press the transmit button when band opening activity is recognized.  Operating AM, and even SSB, with low power/poor antenna/marginal receiver will be a very lonely experience when the band is not open even in large metro areas. Even here in the Northeast, I'm between Philly/Washington and NY/Boston, and there are times when, other then for beacons down in the CW portion, there can be a total void of any QSO's even during the evening hours when people would be inclined to play radio. Part of the problem is of my own doing. My antenna is 7 elements on a 31 foot boom with great gain and great front-to-back ratio. Unless someone is running some decent power and is of a reasonably close distance to me, I generally can't hear them off the back of the beam. For the casual 6 meter operator, a 2 or 3 element beam and rotated, would be ideal for some decent gain and yet not kill you with a high front-to-back ratio.

[AK4YH]

I might try a horizontally polarized magnetic loop.. Already bought the copper coil, and I have a high voltage capacitor and toroid for feeding...

Gil.

[Steve - K4HX]

Or scale this loop to your favorite 6 meter freq.

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=30353.msg236398#msg236398

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Done:

http://radiopreppers.com/index.php/topic,325.0.html

Gil.

So how high is it up in the air?

[Opcom]

Has anyone used a discone for 6M? would be a bit large but not crazy.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Has anyone used a discone for 6M? would be a bit large but not crazy.

Most designed discone antennas are broadband-type antennas and generally have unity gain. For just 6 meters, a typical ground plane antenna would probably be the equivalent. It's vertically polarized and would only find favor in the FM portion of the band. If you don't go horizontal for an antenna, you're probably wasting your time on 6 meters for the majority of the activity.

[WA1LGQ]

I agree with Pete on discones. I have used on for a long time using it on many different bands. On 6 its ok for FM use, but its limited on other modes because most guys use horizontal polarization. Its nice for multiband use though.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

One of the most popular horizontally polarized mobile antennas back in the 50's and 60's for the Saturn 6 Halo antenna. These still pop up at hamfests on occasion.



Here is the first Halo antenna invented by W1MUX back in the "good old days":



Several manufacturers today still make similar "halo" versions in single loop or square versions. There's also numerous design articles on the web. The 6 meter version really isn't that big. Find one, build one, tie a rope to it; use a rope to hoist it up high from a tree branch, feed it with RG-58, and you're good to go horizontal on 6 meters and no rotor required.

Another simple horizontal antenna, and no rotor required, is the turnstile antenna. It can also be mounted just like the halo above.

[W8IXY]

FWIW:

I have a 4BTV that loads up with a less than 1.5:1 VSWR on six meters.  Its at rooftop height, about 20' AGL.  I can work mobiles out to 60 miles and fixed stations out to 125 miles.  I don't know why, but it works.  YMMV.

73
Ted  W8IXY

[ke7trp]

My TA53M beam has 6 meters.  At least when its not raining  .

Its flat in the calling freq.  Wont go up to top of band. But anywhere in an round SSB calling frequency it works great.  We tested the FB to 15 DB localy here so not bad.  I setup the DX cluster to email me when 6 was open to US calls.  I have my smart phone on me all the time for work, so several times, I got the message and turned the icom 756pro on and worked six. 

The icom is gone and I only have vintage radios here now. The main rig is the FT101EE for SSB use and I do have the 2 meter transverter working but no six anymore.

I mis Six meter and 17 meters alot (101 does not do warc bands) Gotta break down and by a new HF transciever soon.  I was going to get one but found out that most new radios no longer have RF power adjustment.  That annoyed me so I stuck with the old gear for now.
C

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I mis Six meter and 17 meters alot (101 does not do warc bands) Gotta break down and by a new HF transciever soon.  I was going to get one but found out that most new radios no longer have RF power adjustment.  That annoyed me so I stuck with the old gear for now.
C

I can't find any "new" radios that don't have a RF power adjustment unless I missed one.

[KD6VXI]

I believe Clark's talking about a knob, rather than a menu setting.

My 857 has RF power adjust, but without having HRD or some other 'rig control' software going, it's a pain in the arse to adjust.

Clark, there IS an easy fix for this.  Use the same control you use for dialing the ALC back.  I run my carrier at 100 watts AM out of the Yeasu, and then use the ALC defeat (-5 volts on the ALC pin) to adjust to the carrier I want.  This also works on SSB.  Once you set it for a certain amount of power, it will sit there.


--Shane
KD6VXI

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Yep, the 857 and 897 don't have a front panel RF control, but then again, although still currently sold, I wouldn't consider them "new" radios. They were introduced back in 2001/2002.

[Steve - K4HX]

Why would you ever want to reduce your power? 

[Opcom]

My TA53M beam has 6 meters.  At least when its not raining  .

Its flat in the calling freq.  Wont go up to top of band.

A wire dipole can be 'forced' to band edges and beyond with a matcher and have fine results.

Does this hold true for beams and the like with their odd built-in matching arrangements?

Or, do things like the gamma match, shunt feeds, etc get in the way and 'refuse' to co-exist a little outside their range?

Too many 6M beams say 50-52Mhz.. hey what about 54MHz?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

My horizontally polarized 6 meter antenna is designed with these parameters:

Frequency Range 50.0 To 50.4 MHz
Gain    13.0 dBi
Front to Back    25 dB Typical
Beam Width    E=40° H=42°
Feed Type    “T“ Match
Feed Impedance    50 Ohms Unbalanced
Max VSWR    1.2:1 Typical

Sure I can put a tuner in the line and make the SWR look great at 53.5 MHz but it doesn't mean the antenna will work great or be efficient. And, given the accepted makeup or band plan of 6 meters, almost everyone above 51.12 MHz most likely would be vertically polarized anyway.

For the complete 4 MHz coverage, a log periodic type design would be better or at least several tapered radiating driven elements and with several tapered directors.

[Steve - K4HX]

The gain and F/B go away at the freq extremes, sometimes well before that.

[WU2D]

I ran a two element yagi for several years. It was a driven element with a gamma match and a director. It was made of 45 inches of aluminum tubing and 5 dollars worth of steel conduit. It was horizontally polarized, very small, and easy to rotate with a TV rotor. Best of all, it did not have too tight a pattern.

[ke7trp]

Yep. The RF power control is no longer.  I know about the ALC power adjustment device, I have one here I use with the FT101EE.  The reason to reduce power is so you can tune the amp at low drive and set the drive level.  Run 100 watts into 3x 3cpx800's at 3000 volts?? I think not..

C

I believe Clark's talking about a knob, rather than a menu setting.

My 857 has RF power adjust, but without having HRD or some other 'rig control' software going, it's a pain in the arse to adjust.

Clark, there IS an easy fix for this.  Use the same control you use for dialing the ALC back.  I run my carrier at 100 watts AM out of the Yeasu, and then use the ALC defeat (-5 volts on the ALC pin) to adjust to the carrier I want.  This also works on SSB.  Once you set it for a certain amount of power, it will sit there.


--Shane
KD6VXI

[kb3rdt]

http://www.ku4ab.com/6m-horiz.html

what I have but not up yet!


Carl KB3RDT

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Yep. The RF power control is no longer.  I know about the ALC power adjustment device, I have one here I use with the FT101EE.  The reason to reduce power is so you can tune the amp at low drive and set the drive level.  Run 100 watts into 3x 3cpx800's at 3000 volts?? I think not..

C

You never indicated what radio you're talking about.

[Steve - K4HX]

The discussion is about antennas anyway. Power controls are irrelevant here. Start another thread.

[W4EWH]

Too many 6M beams say 50-52Mhz.. hey what about 54MHz?

As others have pointed out, the AM/FM divide is more-or-less 52 MHz , so a beam used for AM won't need to go above that.

Frankly, I don't think you'll need to worry about bandwidth nearly so much as about mechanical strength and survivability. At least here in the frozen Northeast, getting your beam through the winter was always harder than getting contacts: most AM activity will be right around the calling frequencies anyway.

FWIW. YMMV. HTH.

73,

Bill W1AC

[WD5JKO]

About 10 years ago I bought a KU4AB square loop antenna for 6M local work. I put it above the home chimney, about 25' off the ground. We had a local 6M AM group that met on 50.4 in the Austin, Texas area. I was out of town a bit on the fringe, and the others all had rotary beams. The guys with beams all had to pick who they wanted to talk to, and they were constantly wearing their rotors out. It was very frustrating at times. With my square loop I was just heard, and heard by all, quite well. I ran a Gonset G50 and fed the antenna with 100' of TV RG-6 coax.

A few years before I moved away from that QTH, a 4 level apartment was built that blocked my signal path towards Austin. That put me out of business unless I got a taller tower, and with a HOA, that was not going to happen.

I wonder if others have had much luck with DX using a similar antenna?

http://www.ku4ab.com/6m-horiz.html

Jim
WD5JKO

[Pete, WA2CWA]

About 10 years ago I bought a KU4AB square loop antenna for 6M local work. I put it above the home chimney, about 25' off the ground. We had a local 6M AM group that met on 50.4 in the Austin, Texas area. I was out of town a bit on the fringe, and the others all had rotary beams. The guys with beams all had to pick who they wanted to talk to, and they were constantly wearing their rotors out. It was very frustrating at times. With my square loop I was just heard, and heard by all, quite well. I ran a Gonset G50 and fed the antenna with 100' of TV RG-6 coax.

A few years before I moved away from that QTH, a 4 level apartment was built that blocked my signal path towards Austin. That put me out of business unless I got a taller tower, and with a HOA, that was not going to happen.

I wonder if others have had much luck with DX using a similar antenna?

http://www.ku4ab.com/6m-horiz.html

Jim
WD5JKO

Unfortunately, sharp rotary beams and roundtables generally don't go well together. A two or three element beam generally has broader beam width and poorer front-to-back ratio so generally less rotor activity is necessary in working stations all around you.

Since 6 meters, under typical conditions, depends largely on ground wave propagation, getting a unity gain antenna up as high as possible to extend the over-the horizon propagation, is always a good idea.  With good Sporadic E or F2 propagation happens on 6, almost any antenna can make contacts if it will take some RF and not send it all back to you. I've worked as far west as Arizona on 6 meters using my 75 meter inverted vee for fun and giggles during some openings. On a road trip to Harrisburg, PA on the PA Turnpike back in the late 90's, I worked several European 6 meter stations using the IC706MKIIG and the Huster CGT-144 2M collinear antenna.