Chas-

Tom Ring wrote:

SSB and CW are the modes you will want to use. The US SSB call
frequency is 50.125, with the DX window below that. Some available
propogation modes are troposcatter, F, E, aurora, auroral-E. Six is the
band where almost all enhancements shop up occasionally. When the band
is open, it's often wide open. Don't be discouraged if you don't hear
anything for days or weeks. It's a lot like fishing. There are also
seasons for some propogation types. You will soon see more E as we get
into late spring.


Tom is correct, and also remember : that for FM, transmissions are
USUALLY vertically polarized (I say that because ALL fm activity
for repeaters uses vertical whips, tho in an opening, anything works).
These loops are horizontally polarized). Dont expect much in the way of
F2, or TE, for about another 8-9 years (we are on a decline in the
sunspots), but Es is the bread and butter of the six meter operator,
and as Tom says, most activity is on CW, and SSB , tho I expect that
the new digital modes will start showing up more regularly.
That opens up another can of worms, as the CW segment of 6 meters
(50.000-50.100) ,unlike all other bands (except 2 meters), is
A-1 ONLY (at least in the U.S.)! This forces these new digital modes
up to around 50.26-.29 vacinity. Another frequency to note is 50.110
this is for the DX calling freq- read that as NON US-CANADA If you hear
someone there, is is a pretty safe bet that it is a foreign station.

As to what is being heard on six meters, try :
http://www.dxworld.com/50prop.html
A real time prop. logger for 6 meters
OH2BUA has similar, but mainly followed by Europeans. Six meters will
start opening eS on a regular basis probably by the middle of april
and peaking out in August. and there is also another 2-3 week peak
around the winter solstice, but 6 can open at ANY TIME !
And one of the charms of it iswhen it opens , even the low power
stations can work a lot. Normally, 6 activity on SSB doesn't get much
above 50 250 (unless its a real barnburner of an opening). A fun band
to operate. Jim NN7K