Thanks - I will try the pads. I do need to replace hardward. It's an old back yard find - 3 element beam.

I have an old antenna that I am putting up. Is there a way to get the aluminum tubing looking better?  Can I sand it or refinish it?

I working PSK31 on 17 meters at 18.100 and the ARRL Bulletin comes on at 5 central time and wipes out the entire waterfall. What's going on?

vhfdx is the best solution to see where contacts are being make.
I do think the CW portion of the band should be opened up to digital modes like the other bands.
PSK31 would be a good mode for 6.  At 50.290 its just too high up for most SSB operators to tune up to.

The perfect mode that does not require any volume are digital modes like PSK31. I turn my volume down all the way and enjoy text being displayed across the screen. My equipment is an Icom 756 Pro II, Donner Interfaces, and Ham Radio Deluxe software for the computer.

"Tree Tangle Foot" makes a good product. It's kind of sticky. It gets on the birds feet and they don't like it. So they don't return. www.tanglefoot.com You can find it in the lawn and garden stores.

Host rocket has a free hosting. No adds, pop ups or banners. The link can be www.hostrocket.com/yourcall
Google "hostrocket free" or use the link below.

http://www.hostrocket.com/freewebhosting.html

Twitter could be used by Hams with Cell phones that utilize text messaging. If you have kids, you likely have unlimited text messaging. Kids don't answer the phone but they will answer a text message.

I don't sit at my computer or radio all day but I do have my cell phone on me most of the day. If I got a text message from twitter saying the band was open, I would likely drop what I was doing and go take a listen and make a few calls.

I would think a Six Meter Twitter group for openings would be a good idea.

Thanks - I appreciate the specific suggestion.

When the car is running I have about an S7 noise level and can only hear very strong stations on 20 meters. DSP seems to help some. When parked with the engine off the noise level drops. The radio is connected directly to the Battery.
This is a new install on a 96 Saturn, Hustler antenna, Icom 706.
Any Suggestions? Tim

Beacons can ge a good way to check, but I like to listen to calling frequency 50.125 and give a CQ every once in a while when the band seems dead. It's amazing how often a communications path can be open for a short period of time. If no one is transmitting, the band will seem dead for sure. If you make a contact move off the calling frequency and carry on the contact.

www.hostrocket.com has a nice free web site offer. Perfect for an individual. I have a paid site for another organization. They don't want you hosting ebay photos. It would be great for your station information and station photos.

I put my vote in for Ham Radio Deluxe. You log your contacts and import data from QRZ.COM and then map your selected calls with the mapper program. This would work good for a six meter opening or after last weeks contest to see all the different places you worked. I had been looking for a mapping program too, but this is very simple with a computer.

I cannot disagree with the other comments. I have a very slow old computer and HamScope runs fine on it. Other programs I tried, ran very slow and would drop characters when typing.