[WVDXA] Yesterday's 6m take...

[Dave Heil]

I could barely hear the ZB in there.  While his signal was up and down, 
it was never good enough for a QSO.  EA4UW was deaf as a post and I 
heard none of the Italians.

I ended up with four QSOs with EA8 and three with CT.  Nothing wrong 
with that but there was nothing new in there either.

Until I went overseas in the 1980's, my experience on 6m was limited to 
mostly domestic QSOs, a lot of them with Cincinnati area locals.  I had 
an old three element Cushcraft yagi at 45 feet.  I used that old 
Heathkit heavy boatanchor HX-something-or-other SSB transmitter with 20 
or so watts along with an HQ-170 receiver and followed that up with the 
Heath SB-110 transceiver at 100 or so watts.  My only "big gun" 
operations were at VHF contest superstation WA8ONQ in Middletown, Ohio 
with ops like K8LEE, WZ8D (then WB8IGY), K8VVV, WA8OGS and others.  If 
it wasn't for that experience and the encouragement and help of those 
ops, I'd not have been able to pull off some of the stuff I did from 
overseas.

As far as humbling experiences, I listened yesterday as brand new ham 
KD3RHR, not twenty miles airline from me, worked the ZB station with 
relative ease.  It was at that time that it dawned on me that sometimes 
a lower antenna might be needed.  'RHR has (I believe) a 4 element yagi 
at about forty feet.

73,

Dave K8MN