As a follow up on the 6m thoughts people have posted.

Have you actually seen real 6m RFI?

With fewer and fewer TV installations using antennas, and that historically most 6m RFI issues were QRO (high power TX) or closely coupled antennas, is anyone seeing the RFI much?

Even in house TV wiring has moved mainly to unbalanced cable (coax) which mitigates to a decent extent.

What are you seeing? I have never seen it, excepting a really cute story when a neighbor complained, basically being a jerkwad, as not only was my station not operating, the feed lines to the beams hadn't even been installed. They backed right up when I asked them for suggestions on routing the feed lines, and they realized nothing could be operating.

73

Steve
K9ZW

... I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed.

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On 29 Apr 2025, k9zw said the following...

As a follow up on the 6m thoughts people have posted.

Have you actually seen real 6m RFI?

I have not tried 6M yet being told it was the Magic band (Its there or its not) I have been primarily using other bands.

With fewer and fewer TV installations using antennas, and that historically most 6m RFI issues were QRO (high power TX) or closely coupled antennas, is anyone seeing the RFI much?

Only thing I notice if I am in the same room as my TV and use the 8w 2M HT it will block the TV reception.

Even in house TV wiring has moved mainly to unbalanced cable (coax) which mitigates to a decent extent.

What are you seeing? I have never seen it, excepting a really cute
story when a neighbor complained, basically being a jerkwad, as not only was my station not operating, the feed lines to the beams hadn't even
been installed. They backed right up when I asked them for suggestions
on routing the feed lines, and they realized nothing could be operating.

73

Steve
K9ZW

I'm wondering now how much of an affect 6M is do you really like the band? Is it worth making an antenna for?

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On 29 Apr 2025, claw said the following...

On 29 Apr 2025, k9zw said the following...

As a follow up on the 6m thoughts people have posted.

Have you actually seen real 6m RFI?

Only thing I notice if I am in the same room as my TV and use the 8w 2M
HT it will block the TV reception.

Eight Watts? While I know a lot of Chinese HTs offer that level of output, personally I am not putting an 8w transceiver alongside my head.

The blanking is to be expected, as you are creating a situation outside of the design perimeters for consumer electronics.

Take care around anyone with a pacemaker, eh?

I'm wondering now how much of an affect 6M is do you really like the
band? Is it worth making an antenna for?

It seems to be a band that people pursue when they have space limitations or have bored with their pursuits on more common ham bands.

Though I have coverage and capability, I seldom have made 6m contacts.

That said, a 6m Moxon is not very big or expensive, and could be fun.

73

Steve
K9ZW

... Intelligence tests are biased toward the literate.

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6 Meters in the Metro Louisville Kentucky area in the early 1960's had QSO's on a couple FM frequencies and several AM frequencies.

One of the FM frequencies had a weekly Civil Defense Net.
The other FM frequency had been used by OT'ers for (I'd say) 20 years earlier.

My first experience hearing 6M FM was when a High School friend was given a mobile rig by his uncle.
That long whip antenna on my friends car made people think my friend was a policeman because Police Cars had a long whip antenna on their back bumper back then.

The Civil Defense office in City Hall had a Gonset 6M AM Transceiver and I learned there were lots of Hams on 6 AM so I ordered a Heathkit Sixer and built it so I could chat with others on 6M.
I learned a lot of Hams I talked with on the local 75M freq. were on 6M AM too. Itwas about 10 years later that 2M FM became popular in my area.
I learned some Hams on 2M were also using 6M AM so I hooked my Sixer to a Halo antenna I put in the attic and began chatting to some HamsA neighbor across the street told me he could hear me when I was transmitting on his Heathkit Television set. Shortly after that I quit using the Sixer and used 2M and HF frequencies.

Is there any 6M activity in your area?
Ed W9ODR
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Have you actually seen real 6m RFI?

Years ago when I had a 6 meter station setup, it caused my neighbors garage door to open and close, also my motion activated security lights would turn on, and my wireless doorbell would ding-dong. The issues were not as sever with low-power. If I remember, anything over 50 watts was bad. I was using a home made 6m dipole.

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On 01 May 2025, Matty said the following...

Have you actually seen real 6m RFI?

Years ago when I had a 6 meter station setup, it caused my neighbors garage door to open and close, also my motion activated security lights would turn on, and my wireless doorbell would ding-dong. The issues
were not as sever with low-power. If I remember, anything over 50 watts was bad. I was using a home made 6m dipole.

yeah.. lots of things that are now in the sort of "ISM band" range used to be low power down in the 50Mhz range (e.g. kids walkie talkies @ 49.??MHz, or cordless phones at 43-50MHz)

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