Six metre enthusiasts, VHF/UHFers, Moonbouncers, Scatterers and the like often use maidenhead grid locators to track their contacts. In their simplest form, Maidenhead grids divided the Earth into 1x2 degree chunks. When working over shorter distances with microwaves, a more fine-grained grid is used. Maidenhead is hierarchical, with most using the 4 character form. For instance, I live in FN03, but the club meets in FN04, which is a couple of hundred metres to the North of me. Each pair of characters represents a grid "square" (they're not square. In fact they're not even rectangular, although they would be if the Earth were flat).
Recently I happened upon an excellent on-line map with a Maidenhead grid overlay on a Hungarian Web Site. Even better, by clicking the appropriate button on the top right, there's a DXCluster link that shows communications paths on the map. The map lets you zoom in from the 2 to the 4 to the 6 character locators.
On VHF and UHF, the ARRL VUCC award recognizes 100 confirmed contacts with different grid squares. The ARRL also has the Fred Fish award recognizing contacts with every grid square which contains a piece of the continental US. FN03 is one of those, and according to the rules a contact with me would count for that award even though I'm on the Canadian side.
73,
Chris
Showing posts with label VHF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VHF. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 August 2016
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
IRLP/Echolink Troubles
IRLP and Echolink on VE3YRC-VHF are down until further notice due to a computer hardware failure. The repeater committee is currently considering replacing the computer, but this will take some time to accomplish. The new hardware being considered is based on the Raspberry Pi single-board computer. As it contains no moving parts and consumes much less power, it should be much more reliable. Assuming the IRLP board is salvageable, the replacement should also be very inexpensive to purchase and operate.
73,
Chris
73,
Chris
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Notes from the Shack - ARRL June VHF Contest
June is a great time for 6m, with Sporadic E openings occurring from time to time. So far this year, despite spending a good deal of time listening - or in the case of JT65 mode, watching, I've had very few contacts. Getting Guadeloupe, a new country for me on 6, out of the blue was a nice surprise though. New countries don't come too often for me on 6, and this one was my fifth, although one of them has not confirmed yet.
This being my first VHF contest, I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping that there'd be plenty of stations to choose from, although my home-made loop antenna at 20' isn't exactly world class. Before the contest I decided to resurrect my Softrock IF Lite SDR receiver to drive a spectrogram - or panadaptor if you prefer that term. This goes into a newly acquired 192KHz bandwidth USB audio interface for display using the SDR Sharp software. The Softrock is now in a project box purchased at Dayton, with a 1/4" stereo phone plug for the audio interface, a BNC connector for the IF cable, Power Poles for the 13.8 VDC input and a power switch. The receiver draws very little current but now that the station has battery backup it's best to eliminate even small current drains.
Initially, SDR Sharp showed many spikes in the signal of up to about 25db, and also a hump of about 25db for 3KHz on either side of DC. Neither of these are desirable. A clip-on ferrite on the cable between the receiver and the audio interface reduced the spikes to less than 10db which is a lot better, but the DC hump was still there when the contest started. That will have to be investigated another day, and hopefully it will be solved in time for Field Day. Even with these limitations, though, the spectrum display proved to be very useful in the contest.
The above photo is before the choke was installed. Below is how it looks after installation. As you can see it made quite a difference.
Only one contact was made on Friday evening, which was with John VA3JI, at a distance of about 10km. I heard C6AT in the Bahamas as well, and he copied part of my call before fading away forever. That was the only Sporadic E activity heard the entire weekend.
In the end, there were 5 Canadian stations and 3 US stations in the log, all but one using CW, including Mike VE3FGU up in Keswick. The 3 US stations were all in New York, which surprisingly is a new state for me, most likely courtesy of tropospheric scatter. One of the New York stations was in my own grid square, and all the Canadians were there or in FN04, but the other two New York State stations were new. So in total my log showed 8 stations worked with 4 multipliers for a whopping 32 points. The great thing about a low score is that I have a very good chance of beating it next year!
VE3UBL/B, our local 6m beacon, was a constant companion on the spectrogram. The morse code could be read directly from the display. All the contacts were found using it. I found it to be about as sensitive as my ears, but searching the band was way faster visually. The next thing I need to work on after getting rid of the hump is calibration of the display against the K3 so I can read the frequency directly instead of just having a relative indication. At $25 for the kit and $10 or so for parts to mount it is a much less expensive option that the $1,500 or so for the Elecraft P3 (yes, it's cheaper than that, but with US dollars, shipping, HST and the fact that I'd be compelled to buy the external monitor option, it would be about $1,500 by the time it was installed in the shack, plus another $200 for a dedicated monitor).
This being my first VHF contest, I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping that there'd be plenty of stations to choose from, although my home-made loop antenna at 20' isn't exactly world class. Before the contest I decided to resurrect my Softrock IF Lite SDR receiver to drive a spectrogram - or panadaptor if you prefer that term. This goes into a newly acquired 192KHz bandwidth USB audio interface for display using the SDR Sharp software. The Softrock is now in a project box purchased at Dayton, with a 1/4" stereo phone plug for the audio interface, a BNC connector for the IF cable, Power Poles for the 13.8 VDC input and a power switch. The receiver draws very little current but now that the station has battery backup it's best to eliminate even small current drains.
Initially, SDR Sharp showed many spikes in the signal of up to about 25db, and also a hump of about 25db for 3KHz on either side of DC. Neither of these are desirable. A clip-on ferrite on the cable between the receiver and the audio interface reduced the spikes to less than 10db which is a lot better, but the DC hump was still there when the contest started. That will have to be investigated another day, and hopefully it will be solved in time for Field Day. Even with these limitations, though, the spectrum display proved to be very useful in the contest.
The above photo is before the choke was installed. Below is how it looks after installation. As you can see it made quite a difference.
Only one contact was made on Friday evening, which was with John VA3JI, at a distance of about 10km. I heard C6AT in the Bahamas as well, and he copied part of my call before fading away forever. That was the only Sporadic E activity heard the entire weekend.
In the end, there were 5 Canadian stations and 3 US stations in the log, all but one using CW, including Mike VE3FGU up in Keswick. The 3 US stations were all in New York, which surprisingly is a new state for me, most likely courtesy of tropospheric scatter. One of the New York stations was in my own grid square, and all the Canadians were there or in FN04, but the other two New York State stations were new. So in total my log showed 8 stations worked with 4 multipliers for a whopping 32 points. The great thing about a low score is that I have a very good chance of beating it next year!
VE3UBL/B, our local 6m beacon, was a constant companion on the spectrogram. The morse code could be read directly from the display. All the contacts were found using it. I found it to be about as sensitive as my ears, but searching the band was way faster visually. The next thing I need to work on after getting rid of the hump is calibration of the display against the K3 so I can read the frequency directly instead of just having a relative indication. At $25 for the kit and $10 or so for parts to mount it is a much less expensive option that the $1,500 or so for the Elecraft P3 (yes, it's cheaper than that, but with US dollars, shipping, HST and the fact that I'd be compelled to buy the external monitor option, it would be about $1,500 by the time it was installed in the shack, plus another $200 for a dedicated monitor).
Friday, 21 November 2014
VE3YRK Gateway will be down for a while
Following some scheduled maintenance we need to do another site visit before the gateway will be back on line. This will be done as soon as it can be coordinated. Until then, the repeater is operational but its link to reflectors and other repeaters is out of service.
Thanks to Steve for all the hard work (past, present and future) for knocking our repeater systems into shape.
73,
Chris
Thanks to Steve for all the hard work (past, present and future) for knocking our repeater systems into shape.
73,
Chris
Monday, 12 May 2014
6m Net Tonight
The Sporadic E season is upon us! Last night the spotting networks were full of North American 6 metre stations and I managed to complete a 6m CW QSO with WB4TBH in North Carolina and a part of a JT65 QSO with KN4NN in Florida. On JT65 I could hear (see?) /4 US stations in touch with Costa Rica.
Let's hope we see the same conditions tonight. Same time and place - 50.175 USB at 0000Z (8pm local).
73,
Chris
Let's hope we see the same conditions tonight. Same time and place - 50.175 USB at 0000Z (8pm local).
73,
Chris
Sunday, 23 February 2014
6m Net - February 17, 2014
Just 5 of us this time, with Mike VE3FGU in the North and Chris VE3NRT at the South end for a longest path of 27km. Rob VE3RQB joined us for the first time having cobbled together a Bazooka running from inside his shack, and was copied at 5x1 by Chris VE3NRT but well over S9 by Mike. John VA3JI and Brian VE3IBW were all clearly audible which allowed for some casual conversation before signing off at 8:25.
After the net Chris and Brian had their first successful QSO with digital voice using FreeDV.
Chris, VE3NRT
After the net Chris and Brian had their first successful QSO with digital voice using FreeDV.
Chris, VE3NRT
Thursday, 20 February 2014
D-STAR / D-RATS Net
A short note to update you on the D-STAR / D-RATS tests conducted last night by Brad VE3HII and me. We chatted for approximately an hour using a combination of Simplex on 145.670 and the DStar repeater VE3YRK @ 147.180.
Brad and I were easily able to connect on simplex from his location in Richmond Hill to mine in Uxbridge and spent most of the time on that frequency.
We conducted several tests including chat - file transfers and broadcast messages and had great results.
Specifically, the broadcast message feature where we demonstrated the ability to transmit a message – that would be received by all on frequency – that was several paragraphs in length and contained a great deal of text and information. A larger three paragraph message was sent in 12 seconds.
Not only that BUT we did this on simplex AND on the repeater AND while transmitting voice at the same time. The D-STAR radios that the club have are of course easily and seamlessly able to toggle back and forth between voice and data with ease.
This broadcast feature in combination with voice is of course a great tool and easily established ad hoc network in the event of an EmComm – EMO situation…. When all the smartphones are dead…
In order to “exercise the muscle” as they say and have more folks try and get comfortable with this – Brad and I are going to meet on 145.670 and/or 147.180 each Monday night @ 8:30 pm – Following the 6M net for those that do both. Perhaps using the D-STAR broadcast to post the 6M results.
If you are interested in joining in – I would highly recommend this for EmComm members – Brad and I will meet you there. We have lots of other things that we would like to test try and get comfortable with such as linking through other repeaters like LSR.
BR and 73
Steve – Ve3eZ
Brad and I were easily able to connect on simplex from his location in Richmond Hill to mine in Uxbridge and spent most of the time on that frequency.
We conducted several tests including chat - file transfers and broadcast messages and had great results.
Specifically, the broadcast message feature where we demonstrated the ability to transmit a message – that would be received by all on frequency – that was several paragraphs in length and contained a great deal of text and information. A larger three paragraph message was sent in 12 seconds.
Not only that BUT we did this on simplex AND on the repeater AND while transmitting voice at the same time. The D-STAR radios that the club have are of course easily and seamlessly able to toggle back and forth between voice and data with ease.
This broadcast feature in combination with voice is of course a great tool and easily established ad hoc network in the event of an EmComm – EMO situation…. When all the smartphones are dead…
In order to “exercise the muscle” as they say and have more folks try and get comfortable with this – Brad and I are going to meet on 145.670 and/or 147.180 each Monday night @ 8:30 pm – Following the 6M net for those that do both. Perhaps using the D-STAR broadcast to post the 6M results.
If you are interested in joining in – I would highly recommend this for EmComm members – Brad and I will meet you there. We have lots of other things that we would like to test try and get comfortable with such as linking through other repeaters like LSR.
BR and 73
Steve – Ve3eZ
Monday, 17 February 2014
6m Net - February 10, 2014
We had good participation in the net this week with Mike VE3FGU, Brian VE3IBW, Brad VE3HII, John VA3JI, Chris VE3NRT, and Bob VE3WY. Signal strengths were good except that Bob seemed weaker than usual with 5x3 and 5x5 signal reports. Chris at net control had his amplifier working well again up to about 250W output.
The longest two-way path of the day was Bob to Brad at about 50km, and everyone could hear everyone.
The most encouraging report was from John VA3WPN, between Bradford and Woodstock, who reported signals loud and clear at his location. Unfortunately they had faded by the time he was in a position to transmit but at 150km this path is 3 times our previous record.
Hopefully we'll be hearing from John in a future net and seeing some more surprises before too long.
After the net, VE3IBW and VE3NRT did some further experiments with FreeDV and managed to get two way transmission but only one-way audio, but at least there was progress.
Next net is on Monday, February 17th at 8:00pm local on 50.175 USB (Feb 18, 0100Z). All are welcome.
73,
Chris VE3NRT
The longest two-way path of the day was Bob to Brad at about 50km, and everyone could hear everyone.
The most encouraging report was from John VA3WPN, between Bradford and Woodstock, who reported signals loud and clear at his location. Unfortunately they had faded by the time he was in a position to transmit but at 150km this path is 3 times our previous record.
Hopefully we'll be hearing from John in a future net and seeing some more surprises before too long.
After the net, VE3IBW and VE3NRT did some further experiments with FreeDV and managed to get two way transmission but only one-way audio, but at least there was progress.
Next net is on Monday, February 17th at 8:00pm local on 50.175 USB (Feb 18, 0100Z). All are welcome.
73,
Chris VE3NRT
Monday, 10 February 2014
6 Metre Net - Feb 3, 2014
Conditions seemed to be better than usual with better signal strengths reported by most stations. Matt VA3MGN was a bit stronger but still difficult to hear. Bruce VE3BV and Mike VE3FGU in Keswick came in strongly, and John VA3JI joined us for the first time using his 17 metre antenna on the 3rd harmonic as well as Brad VE3HII. Brian VE3IBW backed off his power this week to 10W to reduce RFI problems in his QTH.
VE3IBW and Chris VE3NRT decided to do some (only partially successful) testing with FreeDV afterwards and we contacted by Mark VE3CT while setting up, using a dipole in his kitchen.
Most stations were heard by Rob VA3RQB in Bradford. Longest path was again about 50km. VE3NRT also thanks VE3FGU for the LoTW confirmation.
VE3IBW and Chris VE3NRT decided to do some (only partially successful) testing with FreeDV afterwards and we contacted by Mark VE3CT while setting up, using a dipole in his kitchen.
Most stations were heard by Rob VA3RQB in Bradford. Longest path was again about 50km. VE3NRT also thanks VE3FGU for the LoTW confirmation.
Sunday, 2 February 2014
6 Metre Net - January 27th, 2014
Last Monday's net had record participation, with Brad VE3HII, Brian VE3IBW, Bruce VE3BV, Bob VE3WY, Charlie VE3SYK, Matt VA3MGN, Mike VE3FGU, and Chris VE3NRT. Once again it was clear than antenna height and directivity are a distinct advantage. Net control VE3NRT was able to easily copy all participants except VA3MGN, who was about 3x3 at both ends. Distance, cross-polarization and obstructions were factors working against solid copy. VE3NRT also had amplifier trouble so ran barefoot but is happy to report that the amplifier has spontaneously started working again and so should be operational for the net on February 3rd.
The net closed at 8:25 after all signal reports and check-ins were complete, but VE3WY and VE3BV continued on at 50.130 MHz to do further checking on Bruce's antenna, which was showing high SWR perhaps due to the effects of weather on the coax.
The longest path was 52km between Matt and Bob although Matt reported Bob's signal was audible but not readable. A slightly shorter path between Bob and Brad was 100% copy. Steve VE3SHA reported hearing Brad and few others but not well enough for a QSO, while Steve VA3SRV reported hearing Mike, Chris and somewhat curiously briefly copied Matt.
On Monday (February 3rd) night at 8pm we'll try once again on 50.175 USB, with VE3NRT and VE3IBW (and anyone else who wants to try) making a FreeDV contact immediately afterward.
Any suggestions for trying other modes are welcome. The purpose of the net is experimental so let's experiment!
73,
Chris VE3NRT
The net closed at 8:25 after all signal reports and check-ins were complete, but VE3WY and VE3BV continued on at 50.130 MHz to do further checking on Bruce's antenna, which was showing high SWR perhaps due to the effects of weather on the coax.
The longest path was 52km between Matt and Bob although Matt reported Bob's signal was audible but not readable. A slightly shorter path between Bob and Brad was 100% copy. Steve VE3SHA reported hearing Brad and few others but not well enough for a QSO, while Steve VA3SRV reported hearing Mike, Chris and somewhat curiously briefly copied Matt.
On Monday (February 3rd) night at 8pm we'll try once again on 50.175 USB, with VE3NRT and VE3IBW (and anyone else who wants to try) making a FreeDV contact immediately afterward.
Any suggestions for trying other modes are welcome. The purpose of the net is experimental so let's experiment!
73,
Chris VE3NRT
Sunday, 26 January 2014
6 Metre Net - January 20th
For this week's net we had Charlie VE3SYK, Bob VE3WY, Brian VE3IBW and Chris VE3NRT. Everyone transmitting could hear everyone else this time. Steve, VE3EZ, also heard Chris but not the others (likely before Charlie checked in). Steve VA3SRV could see us on the SDR waterfall and reported by email that he could hear both the USB conversation and Nick on 50.140 FM. This may be an anomaly in Steve's SDR setup as we wouldn't expect to see an FM signal in that part of the band. It appeared to be a repeater input which makes the frequency even less likely. The strong FM is apparent in the image below, along with a much weaker and thinner looking upper sideband signal on 50.175.
Bob is 39km away from Chris which was the longest path of the night, and there are few obstructions between the two locations. Power at both ends was about 100W. Brian increased power from 10 to 50W which improved his signal, and Charlie complained of a higher noise due to a neighbour's activities. City dwellers would be ecstatic to have noise levels as low as Charlie's, mind you.
Frequencies on each radio varied somewhat although all were within about 200Hz, which is a mere 4 parts per million spread. Everyone reported having to tune above net controller Chris VE3NRT,
Paulo VE3RAO reported hearing voices buried in the noise from Richmond Hill, and Steve VE3EZ heard VE3NRT from Uxbridge. Like Steve, VA3SRV, neither had antennas that would allow them to transmit on 6m.
One topic of the night was to try out the FreeDV software for digital voice communications. As not everyone is going to have that set up we plan to test it on a different schedule sometime soon and perhaps put it in play a bit later. It would also be fun to try JT9 to see if the distances can be improved, and PSK, and RTTY, and perhaps some CW.
Six metres is a challenging band, which is why we're giving this net a try, to experiment and test 6m capabilities at our own stations. All amateurs are welcome to participate.
Bob is 39km away from Chris which was the longest path of the night, and there are few obstructions between the two locations. Power at both ends was about 100W. Brian increased power from 10 to 50W which improved his signal, and Charlie complained of a higher noise due to a neighbour's activities. City dwellers would be ecstatic to have noise levels as low as Charlie's, mind you.
Frequencies on each radio varied somewhat although all were within about 200Hz, which is a mere 4 parts per million spread. Everyone reported having to tune above net controller Chris VE3NRT,
Paulo VE3RAO reported hearing voices buried in the noise from Richmond Hill, and Steve VE3EZ heard VE3NRT from Uxbridge. Like Steve, VA3SRV, neither had antennas that would allow them to transmit on 6m.
One topic of the night was to try out the FreeDV software for digital voice communications. As not everyone is going to have that set up we plan to test it on a different schedule sometime soon and perhaps put it in play a bit later. It would also be fun to try JT9 to see if the distances can be improved, and PSK, and RTTY, and perhaps some CW.
Six metres is a challenging band, which is why we're giving this net a try, to experiment and test 6m capabilities at our own stations. All amateurs are welcome to participate.
Saturday, 18 January 2014
6 Metre Net Update
Our 6 metre net almost doubled in size this week with 5 stations worked, plus 2 listener reports. As scheduled, we met on 50.175 upper sideband last Monday evening at 8pm. The participants were:
Brian, VE3IBW, with 10 watts horizontally polarized
Brad, VE3HII, with 12 watts into a rotatable dipole
Steve, VE3UT, probably 100 watts into a beam pointed at Aurora/Newmarket
Charlie, VE3SYK, 90 watts into a beam
Chris, VE3NRT, 250 watts to a Butternut vertical at 22'
Charlie was the winner as he could hear all other stations. Chris could hear everyone except Steve, while Brad and Brian could only hear Charlie and Chris. Steve VA3SRV down in Bradford could only hear Charlie on his RTL2832 dongle, while Bob VA3IL could hear Chris and Charlie using an 80M horizontal loop as a receiving antenna from about 20km away.
The longest path was from Charlie to Steve at about 50km. Charlie described the signal as S1. Noise on VE3NRT's vertical was a healthy S5 so while Steve's transmissions were heard, they weren't readable.
At 8:30 VE3IBW and VE3NRT switched over to FM on 52.525MHz to try and raise Don VE3IXJ. Brian thought he heard him but no further contact was made. VE3NRT reported Brian's signal at almost full quieting.
I hope we can get some new participants for this Monday's net. VE3NRT will upload all contacts to LoTW.
Lastly, the January VHF Contest starts today at 2pm. Some local amateurs will be participating in the contest and if you get the chance fire up rig on 6m and give them some contacts.
Brian, VE3IBW, with 10 watts horizontally polarized
Brad, VE3HII, with 12 watts into a rotatable dipole
Steve, VE3UT, probably 100 watts into a beam pointed at Aurora/Newmarket
Charlie, VE3SYK, 90 watts into a beam
Chris, VE3NRT, 250 watts to a Butternut vertical at 22'
Charlie was the winner as he could hear all other stations. Chris could hear everyone except Steve, while Brad and Brian could only hear Charlie and Chris. Steve VA3SRV down in Bradford could only hear Charlie on his RTL2832 dongle, while Bob VA3IL could hear Chris and Charlie using an 80M horizontal loop as a receiving antenna from about 20km away.
The longest path was from Charlie to Steve at about 50km. Charlie described the signal as S1. Noise on VE3NRT's vertical was a healthy S5 so while Steve's transmissions were heard, they weren't readable.
At 8:30 VE3IBW and VE3NRT switched over to FM on 52.525MHz to try and raise Don VE3IXJ. Brian thought he heard him but no further contact was made. VE3NRT reported Brian's signal at almost full quieting.
I hope we can get some new participants for this Monday's net. VE3NRT will upload all contacts to LoTW.
Lastly, the January VHF Contest starts today at 2pm. Some local amateurs will be participating in the contest and if you get the chance fire up rig on 6m and give them some contacts.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Informal 6-Metre Net
Bob VE3WY, Steve VE3UT and I got together on 6 metres on Monday night to test the feasibility of having a an informal experimental weekly simplex net on 6 metre upper sideband. Unfortunately for Steve, there was a strong noise source on the frequency we chose - 50.160. Bob and I had a nice long conversation despite some extra noise at my end which was probably the result of my antenna not liking the extreme cold - and I logged my first ever 6 metre QSO which was confirmed with a hand-delivered VE3WY QSL card. Bob and I were also running different antenna polarisations as he was using a Yagi and me my old Butternut HF6V vertical, which theoretically costs about 20db. We are about 30km apart although there are few obstructions.
At last night's club meeting there seemed to be several members interested in participating. Most modern HF rigs have 6 metres, as do many multiband antennas (especially verticals). If you don't have a suitable antenna you still might be able to get some RF out using a tuner, or as 6 metre antennas are relatively small, try putting something together yourself. You will get lots of advice from club members on how to do that.
So for the foreseeable future we will meet on Mondays, at let's say 50.175 MHz USB for now, at 8pm Eastern Time. This is not an EmComm exercise and I expect it will mostly be an exchange of signal reports by and for each station, followed by a discussion about whatever we'd like to talk about. The experience we get with 6 metre simplex may help EmComm down the road, of course. With respect to the possibility of interference with DX'ers, should the band actually be open I expect we'd have a quick exchange and all go DX hunting ourselves. One desirable outcome of the net would be to get some enhanced propagation which is the exciting aspect of this band. The net is a great opportunity to shake down your 6 metre setup with on-air testing, and as Bob pointed out at last night's meeting, any level of amateur radio operator's certificate is allowed to use the band.
All contacts with VE3NRT will be uploaded to LoTW on my regular Sunday pm upload. I've published this on the blog first to encourage comments and to give blog readers a bit of an edge. If you're not a member of the club we'd still be happy to hear from you.
73,
Chris
At last night's club meeting there seemed to be several members interested in participating. Most modern HF rigs have 6 metres, as do many multiband antennas (especially verticals). If you don't have a suitable antenna you still might be able to get some RF out using a tuner, or as 6 metre antennas are relatively small, try putting something together yourself. You will get lots of advice from club members on how to do that.
So for the foreseeable future we will meet on Mondays, at let's say 50.175 MHz USB for now, at 8pm Eastern Time. This is not an EmComm exercise and I expect it will mostly be an exchange of signal reports by and for each station, followed by a discussion about whatever we'd like to talk about. The experience we get with 6 metre simplex may help EmComm down the road, of course. With respect to the possibility of interference with DX'ers, should the band actually be open I expect we'd have a quick exchange and all go DX hunting ourselves. One desirable outcome of the net would be to get some enhanced propagation which is the exciting aspect of this band. The net is a great opportunity to shake down your 6 metre setup with on-air testing, and as Bob pointed out at last night's meeting, any level of amateur radio operator's certificate is allowed to use the band.
All contacts with VE3NRT will be uploaded to LoTW on my regular Sunday pm upload. I've published this on the blog first to encourage comments and to give blog readers a bit of an edge. If you're not a member of the club we'd still be happy to hear from you.
73,
Chris
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