6 Meter Magic Band Nets

Nov 19, 2016 | 6 Meters, Nets

We just had another new check-in on the Magician’s Net this week.  His name is John, and his call is W3KFT (Kentucky Fried Turkey).  For all you VHF fans John also runs a 6 meter net on 50.550 MHz (usb) at 9pm on Sunday evenings under the club call of W3AWA.  It’s called the Mobile Sixers Club.  As Magician’s we are always striving for new and better ways to explore the band.  To the beginning 6 meter op it appears at first that the band is dead, but we’re here to show you that you just have to know where the action is.  We’ve shared our discoveries with other clubs notably the Keystone VHF Club, the Packrats club, and now the Mobile Sixers Club.  Everyone’s invited to the nets!!  Being inclusive is one of our strengths!

Propagation Alerts:  As we wind things down heading towards the Winter months that doesn’t mean we have to hibernate, at least not radio wise.  There’s still a little life left in the 6 meter band, but again, you have to turn it on to find out.  At this time of the year up until the month of January we can sometimes experience some great Es openings.  Keep checking http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php for updates.  For a closer look at what Old Sol (the sun) is up to please check out http://www.solarham.net/ for the latest happenings in the current Solar Cycle.  I know I hound you guys to death with this stuff, but if you’ve never worked Aurora you’re in for a treat!  Look for elevated levels in the A & K indexes.  The more uses you find for those radios, the more fun you’ll have.  Speaking of fun I just started preparing my station to work some meteor scatter using a relatively new digital mode called MSK-144.  It’s included with the newest WSJT-X software that’s been released.  It’s an Alpha version which means it could be buggy, but so far I haven’t had any problems that I can point to, or at least none that were caused by this program.  Time will tell.  Turn on those rigs during the week, and please use those two links I gave in the last paragraph.  I’ve found them to be indispensible when it comes to 6 meter propagation. (more…)

6M Nets from the Fire Tower – Aug. 31

Jul 17, 2016 | 6 Meters, Events, Nets, Special Event

 

Calling all PAARC members….  calling all

Yes, it’s that time of the year again when we run nets from locations other than our shack.

This year we’ll be running both the Magicians Net and the AM Mini Boat Anchor Net from high atop the Hopewell Fire Tower at French Creek State Park.  We’ll be testing out new antennas that a few of our members recently purchased specifically for 6 meters.  The antenna is called the OA-50, an omni directional antenna model made by Par Electronics.  From initial tests, this thing really works.  Let us know what you think.

Rigs & Antennas:  The Magicians Net will be running a Yaesu FT-991, and the AM Mini Boat AnMagician's Netchor Net will run a Gonset (Gooney) G-50 for the AM portion of the net.  Both stations will be sharing a Par Electronics OA-50 Omni Angle Antenna.

Times: We will start taking check-ins for the Magician’s Net at 8pm this coming Wednesday, August 31st rather than our regularly scheduled time of 8:30pm.  Thank you Ed/K3BVQ for your support!  The AM Mini-Boat Anchor Net will start at its usual time 9pm.

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