A Small Yagi for 50 MHz - ONZ.be

6 Meters—The Early YearsA personal history by Dave, W3BJGHaving just read the “6 Metre Handbook” by Don Field, G3XTT, I realized that although this book wasintended as a handbook, I felt that there was a lot of 6 meter background information not addressed.I became licensed as WN3BJG in February of 1955. This was before the days of FM and Repeatersand EME, Moonbounce, Scatter and all of the other technologies available today was essentiallybuzzwords but there were a few pioneers.. SSB was just coming into being as far as the amateur world.For the average Ham, It was either A1 or A3 emissions. A new word was spreading among the amateurworld­­semiconductors! To most, this was a Selenium rectifier, others were experimenting withGermanium diodes and a few lucky ones gained access to the Raytheon CK722 transistor.I immediately got on the air on the utilizing the 2 Meter band, mainly because I had previously acquireda surplus SCR­522 rig which was completely converted and ready to go on the air.Having no HF transmitting capability, I spent my entire Novice year operating on the 2M band andlistening to W1AW and private code practice stations, getting ready to go for the General class license,which I successfully obtained within the one year grace period.Not many commercial manufactures were making 50 MHzequipment in the mid 50's. Practically all commercial/amateurequipment manufactured at the time only went to 30 MHz. As Irecall, I got on the air after much prodding by my friends on 144MHz. A recently formed VHF Club had as a club project, a 50MHz transmitter so I built it and then I needed a receiver. Havingplayed with some super­regenerative receivers before getting mylicense, I took that route and finally had a 50 MHz station.A quick check thru the advertisers in the ARRL Handbooks yielded the following manufacturers of 50MHz gear: See Appendix 1.According to my Log Book, my first 6M contact was February 12, 1956 but this activity ceased in April ofthe same year when I enlisted in the Navy. In June of 1956, I bought my first piece of commercial2M equipment, a Gonset Communicator.As I recall, my first piece of 6M equipment, was a Tapetone XC­50 Double Cascode High Performance6M converter which Ibought early in1957 and used it in conjunction with a BC­312Nsurplus receiver. Ithink my 6M antenna at the time was most likely a modified TV antenna.During the next several years, while I was attending Navy TechnicalSchools I did manage to operatefrom Memphis, W4ODR and later when stationed in Hawaii, KH6AHQ. Most of the operation at theseclubs was on the HF bands, handling phone patch traffic.During the latter part of 1956 and early 1957, I had the opportunity tobecome acquainted with PaulWilson, W4HHK. I often visited withhim while he was at work as a TV engineer at a local television inMemphis, TN and also was fortunate in visiting him at his home QTHin Collierville, TN. One of thethings I remember most about hisstation were the twin towers he had erected in preparation for theupcoming IGY program, See QST, Nov. 1957. On these towers Paul had erected 6M arrays and thetowers were oriented so in one direction, they pointed directly towards W1AW and in the oppositedirection, they were directed towards Australia.[ HAM­MAG N.12 January 2010 ]