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Send us a mail and we will publish it without attributing the source if you wish! Send it anonymously - we don't mind! Put "Moans, groans & gripes " in the Subject field. Say what you want but we will not libel individuals and we will not allow crude language. We reserve the right to edit your mail! Other than that - no holds barred!

The opinions expressed are the opinions of the authors alone and not that of the UKSMG.

June 2001

The DX cluster is for that spotting dx, and not "nil in io91" etc. Contacts are to be made on the radio, and not on the cluster, like "you were 5&5 did you hear me?". Also cluster links are too bogged down with traffic for personal announcements and "hi John, nice to work you on 6" etc whoever, whatever. Use the cluster for what it was designed for and while you are at it get off running that pile up on 110.

73 Kerry G0LCS June 2001.

(1) First of all six meters is a hobby to me, not life or death. There are many more important things than six meters in this world. But this page is about six meters. For the stations that feel it is life and death, when asking me to qsy or any other thing, Please do not forget your manners. Stations that do not give a call sign, that talk to me as if they have a right to be rude, will be met with the same amount of rudeness. I always feel more willing to qsy or be helpful when asked to in a polite way.

(2) When working in the dx window and calling dx, I have no control who comes back to that call. Some stations will ignore these station that call back as they are EU stations. Alas this will not stop them they just keep calling. Other rant and rave and act like lunatics for five minute. This method is not only rude, it shows how the station is intolerant of other station who might not be that good at English. And from past contacts, in five minute of abuse, you can work 15 stations. Now this is the method I use. Take 15 seconds to give a report and the problem has gone, without being rude, and not leaving stations with the impression that UK station are bad mannered.

(3) I have called on 50.110 this year, but only when I think there is a good chance of DX. But as I call, I give a rx frequency and qsy. There are far to many stations not only calling on 110 but not trying to qsy. I can think of two in my area. "Please QSY off 110"

(4) Now this is for the two stations in my area that think it is clever to put up a carrier when station are in qso. One is just outside ******, and the other just outside ******, How do I know by their RST. This behaviour is childish. I will never understand the person that take nine months to past his test only to use it to jam stations. I hope you can see that good manner is a far better way to get things done. Trying to stop other using any frequency by force is not the answer. To finish if you have a problem with a station talk to them, do not act spoilt and childish and start jamming.

K.BROWN G7EXO

June 2000

Chris, n2neh@arrl.net

Sounds like the 50.110 debate could lead to civil unrest on the European side of the pond. Personally, I'd love to hear ANYTHING on 50.110 this year. So far this year DX on 50.110 on this side has been almost as rare as a chicken with lips!!! Anything outside of the area from the Mississippi River to the East Coast (about 1500miles) is DX to me....you bettcha...I'm going to work what I can. However, If someone tells me that they're trying to work something RARE (to them) and asks me to stand by...of course I will. That's called courtesy..... and, it doesn't matter what frequency that one is using for one to show a little courtesy!

Sergio, ik0fta dx50mhz@iol.it

Hi Andy, I am perfectly consonant with you observation about the useless answer to any station that call, in DX windows: "PSE No EU.".... But, please, you remember that prefix as UT5, UR7 and UT7 are from Ukraina (Europe). For all those contacts I remember, at all the EU hams, that the IARU Region 1 Band Plane impose the use of qrg over 50130 or under 50100.

Andy, GD0TEP: gd0tep@qsl.net

What a wonderful band 50mhz is! Some how, sporadic E seems to have an effect on some peoples minds. For example: "CQ de GD0TEP" would indicated that i was looking for a contact anywhere. "CQ DX" then should indicate that i am looking for some thing a little more exotic than normal one hop E's. But i can see how some EU station might not understand what i am looking for. SO, if i called "CQ DX NO EU" i would have thought that this indicates that i am definatley looking for contacts outside of europe. What i still dont understand is why some DL's I's OK's OE's (i could go on) think that they are outside of europe!! The result of persistant calling by EU station caused QRM on QSO's i made with station in UT5, UR7 and UT7. I think i heard others, but so much QRM made it impossible. "CQ DX NO EU" MEANS NO EU!! SO DONT BOTHER CALLING!! Thank you.

September 1999

G0JJL: john@penwortham.idps.co.uk

Ever since I started up on 6M in 1988 50.110 has been the bone of contention. All that can be said has been said...However can M0BOB please define RARE DX??? How will RARE DX stations hear us if we do not call?? Will 3A stations calling on 50.110 be ignored by other Euro stations? Will you class them as "RARE DX" and call? You bet you will! and then again so will I and all the rest!! Inter Euro QSO's on 50.110 that means...band plan through the window!! It is no good wanting people to shift so the frequency is kept clear it is a "Calling Frequency"....I bet throughout the world there are many stations calling all at once on 50.110..... the best thing to do is scrap the calling frequency and have a 50.08 to 50.250 DX window that way people would have to spread out to hear the DX rare or not! John, G0JJL

August 1999

Robert Adlington: m0bob@hotmail.com

When the band opens and I listen on 50.110 MHz I hear several European stations calling CQ. Today I heard a G, I and F station, they were all calling on the same frequency at the same time. They would not hear each other yet alone hear DX. Why not try using other frequencies as well, it isn't painful and it may even assist in working DX.

I have heard stations say but we are DX to someone in another part of the world, yes I agree with that statement but I believe 50.110 MHz should be for the RARE DX. Please try and keep away from 50.110 MHz especially when the band is open. The RARE DX may then have a chance of being heard without European stations calling CQ.

One operator in East Anglia even says he will continue calling on 50.110 MHz and no one will get him to move away from the frequency. Thank you for being so thoughtful regarding the needs of others.

Bob Adlington M0BOB

Hi folks, I want to pat the gents on the back that have the same concern for the misuse of certain propagation loggers. There is a propagation logger used here in the states for HF, 2M, 6M, VHF QSO and other categories for the collection of data to use for the purpose of figuring just that: PROPAGATION!!!! So often "chat-room" level conversations take place on these useful pages, and when proper procedure is mentioned, ya get blasted! I simply posed the question of why there is so much non relative chatter on the 2 meter propagation logger, and I got CUSSED OUT, apparently by the very same person that I had helped with a problem he wanted an answer for (looking for vhf cubical quad formulas). I have a hard time accepting the fact that these so-called "mature" boys are actually amateur radio operators. That kind of behavior stems on the 27 mhz "Childrens Band". I've been a ham since 1969 and was properly taught the courtesies that these supposed "advanced class operators" seem not to posses. Also, the fact that they are so proud of their little station junk that THEY have the best one in the world. That THEY are the best hams in the world. That THEY have so many awards. BIG DEAL!!! In 30 years of operating, I have seen the lot. I concur with the previous statements 100%.

I'd also like to add that I am always on 6m ssb( 50.125-150) and 2m ssb ( 144.150 and other sched'd freqs) and look forward to working the UK on 2 as soon as conditions allow, so I hope to see ya soon on 2........73's , 99 and gud dxin 2 U..

Pete W. N1GEV FN53cv Bath Maine.......

Last few weeks I was on holidays in northern Italy, and as usual took my 6 m rig with me. One of the things I noticed was the enormous amount of openings to SV. In 3 weeks time I recorded well over 100 hours of ES to the SV1SIX beacon. So, my log must be filled with all the SV's I just seem to miss when at home in PA. Wrong !!, I heard 1 SV2, 1 SV8, 1 SV9 and 1 (best-known) SV1. The 6-meter band clearly is not interesting enough for the SV's. I hope that in the future more and more (brave) visitors of Greece will take there rig and activate the country.

73's Peter, PA1SIX (I2/PA1SIX)

July 1999

From: Jaap, PA0OOS <Jaap.Oosten@hetnet.nl>

Come on guys is everybody happy? no remarks about anything during the ES battlefield we had???

Saturday morning 10/7/99 I switched in to late for the opening to JA I saw the JA spots at the cluster.. (if any in PA-land). Heard many many EUROPEANS and EAST-EU calling nervously CQ and working something in the 50090 to 50120 band NO FREE FREQUENCY LEFT! I thought (just awaked) well they sure call for the JA's of course... NO NO WRONG they where working each other!! in contest style. F to SM /OZ ES G to DL PA to anything etc etc Do I have some brain damage?? I do not understand this?? I don't want to be a band policemen reporting every irregularity on the cluster. I don't care if someone makes occasionally EU-EU contacts in this band part. But calling for hours and sometimes DAYs in the DX-band just to work other EU's makes me switch off to do some more useful things. I afraid though that the OM's i am talking about will never read this like they never red the 10.000 times It is recommended to leave this part of the band free for more serious DX.

By writing this I realize taking the risk that the band police will watch me more intense now. So if you see in the cluster dx 50110 pa0oos working YO !! than you know a member of the bandpolice group to.....

73 Jaap

June 1999

Robert Adlington <robert_adlington@lineone.net>
I just lost a contact with a maritime mobile station in JM36VV. The station was 59. His call was answered by a "G" station who gave him every piece of information possible. I then lost the station in QSB. Please only give the minimum details when it is a rare locator as conditions are constantly changing. Please keep the rag chews to more suitable bands.

Thanks Bob Adlington M0BOB

October 1998

From: Mike, VE9AA ve9aa@hotmail.com
The 50MHz prop logger page is for propagation reports not silly: "Listening 50.125 and hearing static" and "Is anyone on?" or "Hearing such n' such beacon 100 miles away" (tropo). Slapshot Bob has lots of other pages for CHATTING and this sort of stuff. Can we please try and keep it to reports of so-called "DX". IE: something you cannot normally work on tropo/groundwave, etc. Let's use this valuable resource as we would use 28.885MHz. I know n5jhv, ko0u and no doubt others feel the same way. (as per their comments on the page) CU there or 28.885Mhz ! Mike http://raven.cybercomm.net/~slapshot/dxing/50prop.html

From: Anonymous

What's this about beacons (in 9A land I think) that only have a carrier and no CW - excuse me but what's the point. Very few of us on 6m live in a site that doesn't have a band full of carriers anyway - how the !"Ł$%^ are we expected to know when it's a beacon. Get real - identify or QRT!

From: 9a3ji svadlja@public.srce.hr

I just HAVE to react on this one! To my knowledge there is only ONE 9A beacon (9a1cal in jn86ej - 50.000) and it IS sending cw - a lot of it ;-) Maybe "Anonymous" refered to S55ZRS beacon on 50.014 which sends aprox 1 min of carrier and then some cw, and it is annoying (even for me, and I can hear it all the time here in JN86FJ). On the other hand, how do you know it was a beacon after all? There ARE carriers on 6m, ya know... Bob, 9a3ji

September 1998

From: Robert Walsh rpwalsh@voyager.net

Mike: Perhaps you can buy a QSO in some places, but I still do it the old fashioned way, over the radio and in a log. So, if you don't get in the log you can keep the $10.00 bill. It is a hobby. But achievment in 50 Mhz DX is something that is very challenging for those that work on it. It takes peristence. The first DXCC took 30 years, as it did on 160 meters. If you have no comprehension of the magnitude of the challenge you cannot place the problem in context.

For those that care, and in the context of a rare station or any stations during extreme long haul conditions such as JA/W8, time is of the essence. My point. The discussion here is about 6 meter long haul DX, not a trip to VS6 for shopping. 73 de WA8MOA

August 1998

From: Robert Walsh <rpwalsh@voyager.net>

I want to make a small point now that there is some life back in 6 meters. Screw the grid squares. READ IT ON THE QSL! WHO CARES. GET A LIFE! When a band opening is counted in seconds and some lid takes 35 seconds to ask about the grid,(after he has had his contact and is in the log) he just put the knife in his pals back. This is the most counter productive thing I have seen. It is even more time consuming than those that only give the last two letters of their calls, another horrible time waster. Both of these lid habits slow the QSO rate for the DX station down by as much as 50 percent. Do the math. Bob WA8MOA/ VK9ZR 78, HZ1AB 80-86, 9K2ZR/9K2USA 92-94

Mike West wl7bqm@ptialaska.net

Talk about getting a life. Ham radio is a hobby, and only a hobby. Ham radio is not the NBA, NFL, or what ever. It's just a hobby. If you want to impress me, tell me how you are able to retire before 40, or how you helped design a new way of communicating. Not by how many DX contacts that you have. By the way, can you still buy a DX contact by sending a ten dollar bill? If the band ever opens up from Alaska, and you hear me, be prepared to talk. I want more than your call and some B** S*** 5x9 sig report. Mike West , WL7BQM BP40om

From ANONYMOUS

If you hear members of the **** please make an attempt to educate them. They have publically stated they do not support the present DX window and they are of the opinion that the calling frequency is for working and calling. A quote from their president (also their vice-president) "if we occupy the calling frequency continually the DX will hear us and know the band is open". This was stated to a fellow who most assuredly agreed....he said "my 80 meter Zepp sure works great on six". This was after they were asked to move because they were covering up a Mexican station station they couldn't hear. Their vice president was asked to move out of the DX window or off the calling frequency 7 times this summer for covering up DX. Most of them are FMers, use 3 or 4 element yagis, 30 feet high vertically or whip antennas and expend great amounts of energy trying to convince everyone they are experts at six meters and even go so far as to write articles about propagation (scary). These are the guys who fight any change to our present band plan. They can't even use the band plan they voted for! The good news is none of them know CW so look down in the CW portion of the band for Southern California. This is what we have to put up with here in Southern California so if you are DX please be patient trying to work this area as we have real QRM from some real ignorant people.

From ANONYMOUS

Everytime there's a fairly hefty pile up on 6metres, an ***** YL operator in the ** area of England calls the station concerned. She usually gets answered straight away as her voice stands out from the mens, she then decides to tell the other station her life history, including what she had for dinner. By this time QSB has reared its ugly head, the other station dissappears an no one else works them. I believe new operators should also receive training on how to operate a station correctly. I started off as a 2E1 a few years back and discovered the novice course covers operating practice. Why not introduce it for the full licence?

From: Mike Langley mike.rl@rsc.co.uk

Should we not encourage new operators, teach them and also learn from them? Can I ask you, did you speak to this station and advise her on operating principles - you seem to be a self professed expert? Did you send her a QSL card and pop a wee note in it offering your help and advise? Or is your initial reaction to slander her. We are all learning and we learn from each other wether novices or full license holders - This is the spirit of radio. Please never expect anybody to improve their practice unless they have been told they have a "problem". I understand your frustration and can see why you are annoyed. But please try and remember that everybody is learning and we all get different things out of radio.If your anttena blew down would you fix it or swear at it? ... try and have some patience OM, you may enjoy the hobby more then. 73 Mike GM1WKR

From: Mike Langley mike.rl@rsc.co.uk

Hi folks I am new to Six Meters and have really enjoyed it so far. I was lucky enough to start on the weekend of the 15/16 of August and enjoyed many fine QSO's and experienced being on the recieving end of pile-ups for the first time, even though I have been licensed for 15 yrs now. This all sounds posotive well,

Here are my moans, First Signal reports. I run 100watts into a 5ele yagi, which to my mind is a decent but fairly modest setup. Nearly every report I get is 59 even though I am sending, for example, 44 with QSB back. Great, I am getting a whopping signal through and it is better than most on the the band??????? Well this is one answer but not the correct one I think, even though I get 59 reports the other stations may have to confirm my callsign, rs and QRA several times - so is this really a 59 signal? Come one folks, be honest - you won't offend me!!

Pile-ups. I had never been on the end of a pileup before until coming on to 6. I appreciate that many stations are collecting new grids and countries and this is a nice challange and exciting to do. But lets be reasonable and give everybody a chance. I have lost many QSO's due to stations butting in, I call CQ and listen to the wall of calls comming back, I respond to one and the QSO begins. Often I loose the station because of others calling mid-QSO - this is truly bad manners and bad operating. While I like to work as many stations as I can (well we all do?) it is also nice to get some bsiac info' for the log and personal interest, like the persons name at least!! It is good to talk. I appreciate that some DX stations are so imundated with calls that they can only wotk Callsign, RST and QRA before moving on to the next call, but I am not a DXpedition or even in a rare grid square, I am just a wee guy who likes the spirit of amateur radio. I agree with Mike west from Alaska, lets talk some more!

I have a speech disorder which causdes me to stutter at times. No great problem but it can be inconvienient at times. A certain Italian station worked me and asked my QTH, I told him but stuttered and had to repeat my sentance. The reply, "Ok all recieved, you are a new country for me, can I have your QRA locator err and please learn to talk properly old man!" My reply "Sorry IW2*** no copy, QRZ QRZ......." Come on chaps lets have some patience. Six Meters is a Magic band, lets keep it that way. Well that is it from me Mike GM1WKR

From: Jeff Morris 9h1el@global.net.mt

The only thing that bugs me is conducting QSOs on 50110. Whether this is ignorance on the part of some newly licenced countries, or lazyness to QSY up the band, or both, I am not sure. I can only imagine that the present make-up of the band where we have such a system of calling frequencies is likely to cause such problems. I have done my share of educating locals here to keep 110 free, while it is not such a problem at this stage of the F2 cycle, it certainly will be in future so this is the time to educate as much as possible now. Best 73, Jeff

From: Mike, VE9AA ve9aa@hotmail.com

What's with this "last 2" bit anyway? I think giving your last 2 letters of your callsign is just about the worst time waster I have EVER heard and I have to say there are a LOT of ops (even experienced ones) who adhere to this simply awful habit. Having been on the business end of a couple or three pileups, I can tell you the LAST thing a dx station wants to hear is partial calls-ESPECIALLY on 6m where the brevity of the openings are often very short. Stop this practice- IT WASTES TIME! Unless your local radio regulatory body has issued you: "KOX" as your callsign, use the FULL call. (sri to pick on you Nick, hi!) BTW, I know dxpeditioners who will REFUSE to work "last two-ers" (myself included). It sounds stupid ! It's not a net afterall-it's a pileup. If you need a net to work DX, you'd better take up stamp collecting. WHEW! All done!

From Anonymous.

I agree with WA8MOA's gripe about locators as they seem to have become the be all and end all of a QSO. I saw a W station back in 97 say he worked an OK station exchanged RST but not locators. So,his next QSO was classed as complete because he got the locator! Well, if he checked with the ARRL desk he would find that the requirements for a QSO are: exchange of call and ONE OTHER PIECE OF INFORMATION PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN. It is traditional to exchange reports so if we exchanged something unknown like colour of underpants ARRL should accept that.Locator exchange with a rare or real DX station is totally unecessary but, if it was to be given at five minute intervals would that then keep the paranoid locator hunters happy? If you have had a QSL rejected because you didn't give a locator,or only the first four characters, you would understand how "radio-rage" has set in here. Anyway, how about all those DXCC's obtained on HF where only your call and reports are exchanged with the DX station and not HIS call yet the ARRL has accepted them for the award? Is it worth the paper it is written on then?

Jeff Morris 9h1el@global.net.mt

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