This week-end, I re-discovered 6 meters, courtesy of the FT817. I was
participating in the IARU HF
Contest and conditions weren't great on 10 or 15 meters, so, on a whim,
I listened on 6 meters with the 817.
As many of you probably know, there was very nice sporadic-E in progress
for much of the afternoon, at least in the Eastern half of the US. I
wound up working over 30 stations in 24 different grid squares in a few
hours. Received reports ranged from quite a few
S-9's to mostly S5's and some requiring good ears and several repeats to
get a solid exchange. All in all, a fun experience which
proves the multi-dimensional power of the 817. This one effort took me
almost one quarter of the way to VUCC. This was
with a 3/8 wavelength vertical up about 20 feet. You can bet I'll be
tuning 6 meters regularly in the future!
72,
Bill
W4RK
Nashville, TN
USA
