Thanks to Web and Ken for the answers

Web Williams wrote:
> Hi Billie,
>
> Well, band plans are all pretty much by "gentlemans agreement" anyhow,
> aside from the old CW/digital parts vs. the voice parts of the band which
> are legislated by the FCC. You have the right frequency for FM, but that
> will not be the most active frequency unless you have a lot of neighbors
> who are doing the same thing you are. There are some repeaters on 6M,
> but they're few and far between.
>

We supposedly have three here locally but none seem to be in operation.
Can't "kerchunk" any of them. [ politely of course ]
> If you really want to hear some DX activity on 6M, my suggestion is to get
> a radio that will do SSB. Mind you, the number of contacts is directly in
> relationship to the season (late spring/early summer is prime-time for 6M).
> So you're riding the "tail end" of this year's big band openings. You'll
> witness
> another flurry of activity in September. Its also no coincidence that a
> large
> number of contacts are made during special VHF contests. All this activity
> centers around 50.125MHz for stateside, and 50.110MHz for DX.
>

From my limited understanding of 6 it seems that it depends some on the
level of sunspot activity kind of like 10.

I have an Azden FM mobile [ never been mobile ] but my primary radios
are two IC-706's [ neither a "G" *<]:o( ]. One in the house [ MK II ]
on an Antron vertical and one mobile [ plain 706 ] with an Antron
"Hamstick" mounted on an NMO on the roof of the van. Have an LDG
autotuner for both.

> FYI, those two frequencies are not for ragchewing. If you're overheard
> carrying on a long conversation on either of those two frequencies, you'll
> quickly get a bad reputation as a "lid" (and I'm sure you've heard that
> derogatory term used before, right?). So if you make contact, please QSY
> to another frequency as quickly as possible if you want to carry on a
> conversation.
> Also, some stations will throw out a CQ and tell you the frequency they're
> listening to for you to go back to them, so although you'll hear them
> call CQ
> on 50.125MHz, they won't be listening for you to contact them there. You
> have to pay attention to the frequency they give out on the air. In some
> cases
> you may need to learn how to work SPLIT, but in other cases, the station
> will throw out a call, then quickly dial over to the announced frequency
> and be able to both transmit and listen there.
>

VFO A on one and VFO B on the other in "split" mod

> There are also digital modes used on 6M, and they have their own
> frequencies of interest, like WSJT, which is a sideband mode.
>

I may in the future get into digital but not right now.

> Not sure what rig you have, but if it doesn't do SSB, you're really
> missing out on a lot of contacts!
>
> Oh, one last thing- while you will make a few contacts on a dipole, you
> really
> want a high-gain (5 elements or more) Yagi or quad and rotator to get
> the most
> enjoyment out of 6M SSB, and you want to get your antenna up as high as
> affordable (50 or more feet, with 85+ feet being optimum). You'll make
> contacts
> with it lower, but you'll be missing a LOT more contacts that you won't
> be able to
> hear!
>

May not get "the most". Just have a vertical at about 70 feet.

> VHF/SSB is a whole 'nuther world!
>
> 73, -Web
>
> Billie Erin Walsh wrote:
>
>> I'm new to six. I was told that 52.525 is the call channel to listen to
>> but hear through the grapevine that it's not a "national" thing. Also no
>> "band plan" seems to give where to listen for SSB and such. Then I also
>> hear through the grapevine that there is no real "Band Plan".
>>
>> SO, what frequencies does everyone use most???
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> www.six-six.org For 50 MHz EnthusiastsYahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>


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