6M Propagation ?

[Elf36]

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about 6M. About 10 years ago I was able to make pretty decent contacts on 6M using an FT-817, 5 watts into a homebrew Moxon about 20 ft off the ground. I was excited when I bought my latest HF rig ,because it had 6M coverage and 100 watts output on the band. I had thought about maybe buying a 4 element Yagi or build another Moxon, but I'm not sure it's worth the time, money and effort. I hardly hear anything on there. Whenever I check the DX clusters, the graph is minimal and the frequencies shown are typically digital modes such as FT-4 or FT-8. With 10 and 12 meters getting a bit better, I was hoping 6 would come alive again.

[~SIGINT~]

I am hoping it will come alive as well. The propagation in improving and is expected to continue improving in this band in the future. I did catch the tail end of a CQ just above 50 MHz a few weeks ago but missed it. I am trying to make is a habit to visit this band more often.

Here is a challenge, there is a continuous beacon transmitter in my area that you can try and DX.

50058.900 kHz CW
FN03 TORONTO DE VE3UBL/B

[RobRich]

None of my desktop HF receivers have the 6m band, or I would perhaps keep closer tabs on it. Listening to 6m SSB means turning on a SDR here, or maybe one of my old scanners assuming anyone bothers with 6m FM these days.

There is also the polarization issue. Most of my current antennas are verticals. Even though DX propagation typically skews polarization, a horizontal does tend to work better for 6m SSB. Suppose I could toss up a 20' loop or 10' dipole sometime.

[Elf36]

Hopefully the 'Magic band' will be magical again one of these days. I don't have the support or rotator to to accommodate a HF Tribander, but I could put up a decent 6M yagi if I knew it would be worth it.