Thursday, June 21, 2018

On the shoreline...

John MW1CFN commented on my last post:

6m is subject to ionisation that is shaped into something like the surface of the sea - lots of waves. These propagate from the surface and grow to huge sizes by the time they are at upper D and E height. That's why you get different propagation conditions between closely spaced stations. Sometimes, you can actually hear the effect of the waves on the radio as the signals come and go.

I like this very clear description/explanation of 6m propagation. And it describes what I experienced yesterday evening. I had the feeling I was standing near the surf of the sea on the beach watching the waves breaking but just not reaching my feet. No matter what I tried I couldn't get my feet in the water leaving me very frustrated. No it was not a bad dream....it was real :-(

I watched neighbourstation PA0O and several other dutch stations south of me making FT8 QSO's on 6m with PJ4NX, PJ4X (Bonaire) and several stations from USA. However I couldn't see those stations and only did one decode from K2ND (not shure if that was the callsign) at -18dB which is near invisible on FT8. Imagine....

Actually, I just finished assembling the 5 element 6m beam. And it is just a matter of connecting the cables and fit it in the mast. But it was too late yesterday, it already started to get darker and I was too tired from the day of work. Would I have any chance with the beam yesterday evening? I doubt it! Although I don't know how much better a 5 element beam receives? It could be just enough to get my feet wet.....

4 comments:

PH0NO said...

Hallo Bas, ik denk dat t idd lukt om de bruikbare Es-rand virtueel naar je toe te trekken met die beam. Ik heb eens een eenvoudige A/B test gedaan tussen vertical en (slechts) 2 element beam op 6m onder Es condities en het verschil was enorm - meerdere (tot 6) s-punten.
Met korte videoclip: http://www.ph0no.net/2017/06/playing-with-6m-es-compact-beam-versus.html
73, Lars

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Lars, filmpje bekeken. Dat is een dramatisch verschil. Ik moet die beam in de mast krijgen dit weekend. En dan maar hopen dat er weer condities komen. Bedankt voor je reactie. 73, Bas

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hallo Bas, zewater kan helpen bij propagatie. Maar dan moet je er ook bijna in staan. ;-) 5 elements beam zal zeker goed helpen, en het verschil in sterkte tussen verticaal en horizontaal kan groot zijn. 73 Paul PAØK

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Paul, ik ga daar zeker een filmpje van schieten. Als ik Lars zijn filmpje zie dan is het verschil echt heel erg groot. 73, Bas