Lee, Don't worry about your beam being up 25 feet. At 6 Meters, that is almost a wavelength high. If you have a relatively quiet QTH, the PR6 preamp for you K3 will help pull out the weak ones on 6 Meters. Check out the Elecraft Archives for other info on this topic.
The key to working DX on 6 Meters is to BE ON THE AIR when the band is open to your QTH. If you are around when it does open, you will work plenty of DX with your K3 and low yagi. The majority of the 6M DX that I have worked as been with a single yagi at 30 feet or less. It worked great during the peak of the sunspot cycle when the higher F2 layers were ionized as the MUF climbed above 50 MHz. >From my old MD QTH, DX was worked from great distances (FR, ZS, ZL, VK, JA, >KH2, V7, etc.) with the beam on the roof at 30 feet. Now that we have E-Skip as the primary means of propagating signals, it is still possible to work plenty of DX with a low yagi and 100 Watts. My friend N4QQ, living in a VERY noisey suburban lot, last summer, worked over 40 countries with his K3 and a 3 element homebrew yagi at 20 feet. Yes, being in the east helps, but there is plenty of DX to be worked from the west, but you must be there when the band opens. You will find that some openings can be very short, lasting only a minute or so to your QTH before the propagation favors another QTH. >From my new VA QTH, using my barefoot K3 and the 20' high yagi, I've already worked almost 40 countries including 2 new ones (HA & E7) bringing the K1HTV DXCC total to 150 DX countries on 50 MHz. As far as a good web site which will let you know what what is happening to help you work 6M (and 2M) DX, check out this great site, which is maintained by EA6VQ: http://www.vhfdx.net/ Click on the "DX-Sherlock 1.97" bullet http://www.vhfdx.info/spots/map.php?Lan=E Clicking on the various tabs will give you a graphical depiction of who is working whom in the world or on NA, SA, EU, etc. continents. Click on one of the maps will produce a new window which will list the details of each QSO, including calls, distances, propagation mode, etc.. I think that you will find this site to be most helpful in catching band openings to your area. Have fun with your K3 and low yagi on the 'Magic Band'. 73, Rich - K1HTV http://www.k1htv.us = = = Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:28:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Lee Buller <k...@swbell.net> Subject: [Elecraft] 6 meters Newbie To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Just got up my three element 6 meter beam at about 25 feet. ?I know it is not high. ?Could someone tell me a good web site to access to learn more about 6 meters? ?Watch for openings? ?Etc. ?Also, is the pre-amp a good investment if I am going to do more 6 meters> Lee - K0WA ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
