Posted: 5/23/2010 11:27:12 AM EDT
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I was thinking about trying something new this year. I already have one new antenna to try out but we've never used a directional. I'm debating on two antennas. I have a 11-element 2M beam and am considering getting something like the SuperAntenna 3-ele compact HF beam.
I was wondering how much 2M SSB traffic there is on Field Day as I've never done it. We've only setup HF rigs in the past. If I setup the 2M I'll save the expense of the other antenna but don't want to waste the time/energy if nobody else will be on 2M. Also, I'll only be able to put it at 30' on a portable mast. |
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Well, back in 1992 another ARFCOMMER ham and I set up a 6 element beam for 10 meters at FD. It drew quite a bit of attention with its 30? foot boom. IIRC it took 6 or 8 of us to raise it up on an extension ladder. We used the ladder as the support and guyed it with ropes. During 1992 the solar cycle was raging and the contacts were easy IIrc...it's been a long time ago.
Maybe SVGA-1 will chime in and refresh my memory. I think it is worth the experience to use a beam on FD. If I had one on hand, I set it up this year in a heartbeat. The 2m contesters are usually running SSB, mega stacked arrays and lotsa power. Some go "roving"(mobile) to cover as many grid squares as possible. I have a homebrew 3 element 2m beam I'm taking this year. Going to try to hoist it up between 2 tall trees and see what kind of activity is on. |
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Ya know, I've never done 6M. Maybe we should do that this year. Keep it horizontal. I have had little luck with a vertical on 6 compared with a dipole or loop. I made one out of some half inch plastic pipe and some #12 wire. This is the antenna I have here at the house now and it holds up much better than the pvc dipole. http://www.ku4ab.com/6m-horiz.html |
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Quoted: What kind of foolishness is this? Aren't you Mr. 2 IC-7000s In A Box? The 7000 does it. I never knew they did SSB on vhf. Well....duh.  I've tried to change the emission type on 2 meters...it stayed in FM. I'll have to look into it. Thanks. ETA: Well I'll be dipped....de-selected in setup menu....Who'd of thunk it....thanks again...now I have something new to play with. |
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What kind of foolishness is this? Aren't you Mr. 2 IC-7000s In A Box? The 7000 does it. I never knew they did SSB on vhf. Well....duh.
I've tried to change the emission type on 2 meters...it stayed in FM. I'll have to look into it. Thanks. ETA: Well I'll be dipped....de-selected in setup menu....Who'd of thunk it....thanks again...now I have something new to play with. I was about to say the same thing..............If my two Yasu DC to light rigs (ft-897 and 817) will do it, your IC-7000s should do it. |
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Quoted:
What kind of foolishness is this? Aren't you Mr. 2 IC-7000s In A Box? The 7000 does it. I never knew they did SSB on vhf. Well....duh.
I've tried to change the emission type on 2 meters...it stayed in FM. I'll have to look into it. Thanks. ETA: Well I'll be dipped....de-selected in setup menu....Who'd of thunk it....thanks again...now I have something new to play with. Glad to help. Comes in very handy if you're doing something like NBEMS over VHF. Otherwise you sort of lose the "narrowband" part when you suck up 3K of bandwidth and bleed over into someone's simplex QSO. Not that I've ever done that of course.
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Ya know, I've never done 6M. Maybe we should do that this year. definately do 6 and 2 in SSb or CW.. hell, do both. I think you will be very surprised at the number of contacts you make... Oh, this is a quick way to setup for VHF stuff... 6m thru 1296 
Field Day 2005 with the RVARC |
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Damnit! Stop this 6M madness!!
You guys just made me remember that I have a huge 6M beam at the house. I just took two antennas off our EOC to replace them with new ones. The 6M needs some minor repair work but I bet it could be fixed easily enough. The sucker is huge! It's got a 34' boom. I forget how many elements. Wouldn't that be something to put up? I need to get back to work on my Ham-IV rotator, though. It wasn't turning the last time I bench tested it. Would you mind sending me that bucket lift in the pics?
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the bucket lift rental is donated by the local equipment company.
we make them a plaque to hang in their lobby every year... for recoginition of community involvement. check into it.. you may be able to get the same deal working... BTW.. did you notice the 11 element long-spaced 6m beam in those pics? |
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the bucket lift rental is donated by the local equipment company. we make them a plaque to hang in their lobby every year... for recoginition of community involvement. check into it.. you may be able to get the same deal working... Not a bad idea. Right now we just get a port-o-potty donated. 
BTW.. did you notice the 11 element long-spaced 6m beam in those pics? Yeah, that's what reminded me. 
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Well, back in 1992 another ARFCOMMER ham and I set up a 6 element beam for 10 meters at FD. It drew quite a bit of attention with its 30? foot boom. IIRC it took 6 or 8 of us to raise it up on an extension ladder. We used the ladder as the support and guyed it with ropes. During 1992 the solar cycle was raging and the contacts were easy IIrc...it's been a long time ago. Maybe SVGA-1 will chime in and refresh my memory. I think it is worth the experience to use a beam on FD. If I had one on hand, I set it up this year in a heartbeat. The 2m contesters are usually running SSB, mega stacked arrays and lotsa power. Some go "roving"(mobile) to cover as many grid squares as possible. I have a homebrew 3 element 2m beam I'm taking this year. Going to try to hoist it up between 2 tall trees and see what kind of activity is on. That was crazy indeed...I remember hauling that thing in on top of my car...LMAO!! We did get a bunch of contacts though. IIRC we mounted it to a pole that was supported by a ladder. We could turn it with a rope on the front of the beam. I have always wanted to do some VHF/UHF SSB work but I never seem to be able to get the equipment needed. If I had it...I would have the beams up and ready to transmit come field day! I would think that hunting grid squares would be just as fun as working all states or all counties. Seems to me that a lot of people would at least be listening more than usual on VHF/UHF SSB on FD for sure. Probably the best time to get those contacts! -SV |
Sounds like a plan. I'll make that my goal. I'll see how many grid squares I can pick up. I'll order the rotator today or tomorrow. So this is what I'll be putting up.
Man! Just stumbled on this ad. That would be nice and the price can't be beat! |
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Sounds like a plan. I'll make that my goal. I'll see how many grid squares I can pick up. I'll order the rotator today or tomorrow. So this is what I'll be putting up. http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamants/1409.jpg Man! Just stumbled on this ad. That would be nice and the price can't be beat! that's a dang good price for that setup!!! I like to stack/phase them vertically so I can mess with departure angle more than beamwidth... |
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Ya know, I've never done 6M. Maybe we should do that this year. We had a pretty reasonable number of contacts on 6m SSB at field day the year we had 6 on the air. I think we may have made one 2m SSB contact that year. The gentleman who's callsign we were using made a point of telling me how many QSL cards he got for the 6m contacts. I'm hoping to have 6m SSB on this year but have to try to find, borrow or build some kind of antenna for it. 2m FM does bring in contacts if you can get a vertical up a little. Try to get the word out ahead of time and lots of the locals will probably give you a call on 2m FM sometime during the 24 hours. If they're mobile that's good points. |
