Six Meter Antennas — I’ve Tried a Few

Antennas are always fascinating, with lots and lots of options from homebrew to buy it off the shelf. Then there’s six meters, the Magic Band, where the antennas are small enough to fit in your backyard or even your attic. I’ve tried a few along the way. Here’s the rundown.

Six Meter Dipole

What’s not to like about a six-meter dipole? It’s simple and easily built. Roughly 9 feet from tip to tip, it can fit almost anywhere. It is horizontally polarized, which purportedly is best for VHF DX. And, it works.

My write-up on my efforts at Six Meter Dipole has been the post with the most traffic on this website since it was published in 2014. So it must be a popular option as well. I’ll also note that I’ve worked Argentina and Uruguay using that dipole and 100 watts.

Six Meter Vertical

Here my experience has been surprising given the prevailing wisdom that you must be horizontally polarized for VHF DX. I would imagine that is true above six meters. But my own experience has been eye-opening.

In 2011 I purchased a Cushcraft MA6V vertical that covers 20 to 6 meters. This added to my HF contest capabilities. Here’s my blog post HF Verticals. I avoided using this antenna on six since at first I had the dipole and later a Moxon followed by a 3-element Yagi.

But, over the past few years, the only antenna I had was the vertical. So I started working stations on FT8 and to my surprise, they answered. That included Scotland, my first European six-meter contact. I will note that the MA6V is an offset center-fed vertical dipole. And mine is mounted at roughly 20 feet above the ground.

So, a vertical is worth trying on six meters. Plus, it’s easier to fit into the yard.

Six Meter Stressed Moxon

Moxon’s are my favorite type of antenna. My first experience was with a homemade 15-meter version that snagged lots of QSOs for my single-band contest entries. The advantages of these antennas are directional, good front-to-back, and smaller than a Yagi. With the tips of the driven element and reflector bent to nearly touch, it squeezes the width of the antenna into a much smaller space. I’ve posted a 15-meter Moxon video too.

The Par Electronics Stressed Moxon brings this compact design to six meters. It works great with good gain, sound front-to-back rejection, and incredible construction. I’ve used it for years at home on a push-up mast and more recently on my rover operations. It can hit a tree and be bent back into shape for the next grid stop — don’t ask me how I know.

While the gain isn’t as great as the multi-element Yagis, I like that its broader beamwidth covers a lot of ground without needing to tweak the rotator. That works great for contests when the band is open.

This is easily my favorite six-meter antenna.

Six Meter Yagis — 3 Elements

Next up in my six-meter antenna journey was trying to find a bit more gain while still fitting the antenna into my yard. I did a fair bit of review of the available options and selected the InnovAntennas 3-element LFA. Click the link to learn more about my experience. It works nicely and offers reduced noise, although I wasn’t able to discern much difference.

I used that antenna for quite some time. The construction is rock solid but sitting up there on top of a push-up mast along with the rotator, made me pretty nervous in the high winds that sweep through from time to time. So, after a while trying to discern a big difference with the Moxon, I put the Moxon back on the push-up mast.

Recently, I’ve purchased an M2 6M-3SS Yagi. Click on the link to learn more. My motivation here was to find a higher gain antenna than the Moxon for use on a temporary installation with a push-up mast in my backyard. I use this for the Summer Es season. Plus, I often use it during rover operations in the CQ WW VHF Contest where I only activate a couple of grids.

Given that temporary use, I wanted a Yagi that could be easily taken apart and put back together again for transport and storage. I also wanted a lightweight antenna for use on the push-up mast. This one fits the bill nicely and I’ve already worked several new DXCC countries in Europe and South America from my backyard installation. The LFA would not have worked in this application as it is heavy and a fairly complex build. It’s better for a permanent installation.

Six Meter Omniangle

My first use of the Par Electronics Omniangles was on two meters and 70 cm. They worked great to get me started on those higher bands, plus they offered horizontal polarization. Of course, I later added cheap Yagis, Diamond Yagis, and now Directive Systems Rover Yagis for those bands. You just can’t have enough antennas.

Recently I’ve added the six-meter Omniangle positioned in the alcove over my ham shack. I haven’t done too much with the antenna yet. Its purpose is to provide a six-meter antenna during the winter when my temporary push-up mast Yagi installation is in storage.

I like the concept with true omnidirectional coverage and am fascinated by the concept of stacking a couple to achieve some gain. I’ll need to report later on my results here.

There are Always More Options

There is always one more type of antenna to try out, no matter how many you’ve worked within the past. For example, quads have always been on my list.

I hope my experience with six-meter antennas can help you get started down this path or perhaps confirm some of your own experiences. Good luck with your antenna journey on the Magic Band.

Jon Jones, N0JK, editor of QST’s World Above 50 MHz column, sent me these additional comments about his experience with six-meter antennas. Thanks, Jon.

Speaking of more options. I’ve added a Directive Systems 5-element Yagi for use at home and when activating a few relatively rare grids. There’s always more aluminum to add.

24-July-2021

I’ve taken some photos of the current crop of 6-meter antennas in my possession. They include me in the photo to give you a better idea of the size of each of the antennas. They all work, some better than others. But it also doesn’t take much when the band is open.

Mouseover for the caption. Click for a full-size image.

29 March 2022

There’s also a great YouTube video of a presentation by Frank, W3LPL, covering 6 meter Yagi Antenna Systems. Here’s the link https://youtu.be/oLsmwzJfId8

29 December 2023

For still more information, check out my write-up on using EZNEC to determine antenna patterns and gain at EZNEC Antenna Modeling.