Joe, given where you live, in northern Ohio, you could go for days without hearing anything on 6 meters. I live in the Los Angeles area, and I sometimes just tune the K3 to 50.125 (the SSB calling frequency) and listen for activity while I'm working from home. There are three or four guys (in a metropolitan area of 8 million) who pop up on the band every day calling QRZ to look for sporadic-E contacts, and on some days, that's about it. When Sporadic-E opens up, it can get real lively.
You can check your rig's performance if you have any 6 meter repeaters in your area, but you'll need a vertical antenna (I use a 6 meter J-pole), since all the FM activity on 6 meters is vertically polarized, whereas most SSB activity is horizontally polarized. (However, some LA area ops work SSB with vertical polarization). The 6 meter FM calling frequency for simplex is 53.600 mHz. there is a 6 meter repeater in Detroit (53.94 output, 131.8 PL), and one in Toledo at 53.65, 103.5 PL). 6 meter repeaters are -.5 mhz offset for input. I don't see any listed in the repeater guides for Cleveland. You might try to hit those machines to test your rig, if you have the wide filter necessary for FM transmission with the K3 and can put together a vertical 6 meter antenna. If the "custom" in northern Ohio and Michigan is to use vertical polarization for SSB (as some ops do here in LA), then you REALLY need a vertical antenna, since polarization really makes a difference on 6 meters. Cross polarization can result in a loss of as much as 20 dB in signal strength, which could pretty much explain why you're not hearing anyone with a horizontal antenna (if the local ops are working SSB with vertical polarization). If you can hit one of the local 6 meter repeaters, ask any operator you reach what the local practice is for SSB. If you want to get serious about 6 meters weak signal (SSB), invest in the Elecraft PR-6 pre-amp designed for that band. It's worth the cost for its performance. Lew K6LMP On Jul 2, 2010, at 6:01 AM, W8JH wrote: > > I have not had ANY luck on 6 meters with K3 # 1713. I had been listening > with my 80m horizontal loop, which my Palstar BT-1500 tunes to a flat SWR on > 6m. Nothing heard over a full year. Since I still couldn't hear anything I > built a 6m dipole a couple days ago and still no luck. > > I can hear continuous carriers sometimes but nothing else. I routinely > check DX spots sent by hams near me (Ohio by Lake Erie) and have no luck. > > I do use the internal preamp. Carriers on the 80m loop are louder than on > the 6m dipole. I had the subreceiver installed last year by Elecraft (about > 6 weeks turnaround) and did not notice any difference. Unfortunately I > thought 6m was a dead band or my antenna was the problem at the time so I > didn't think to ask Elecraft to check it out while they had the rig. > > Anything I could have screwed up on the rig to make 6m a dead band? No > problems noted on any other band. > ______________________________________________________________ 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
