Richard,

I'm not much of a 6 meter guy, although my new antenna will work on 6. 
For what it's worth there is a VHF contest this weekend, starting at 
1800 UTC Saturday.   I don't think you work CW, so most of the  "good" 
stuff will be USB with the main calling frequency at 50.125.    Most of 
the folks will be using horizontal antennas, but there is no reason you 
can't make some contacts with your antenna.     The other station will 
just want your 4 digit grid square.


You may also hear 2 meter USB around 144.200 for this contest.

As time goes on, you will learn what modes are used where and when and 
so be in the proper mode at the proper place.


How is the antenna working?   Since you do have a tech license, there 
are places in the HF band where you can check it out and see  how it works.
   Maybe prowling around the bands will entice you to upgrade.

73, Steve KW3A





On 9/8/2014 12:21 PM, Richard B McDonald wrote:
> Hi!
>
>
>
> I just got my 6M - 160M 43 foot vertical antenna up, and am now ready to
> explore HF for my first time.  I want to start with the 6M band; since I am
> only a technician for now.  I have a Kenwood TS-2000.  My questions relate
> to 1) use of the internal antenna tuner and 2) what mode to be in while
> scanning through the band listening for activity.
>
>
>
> About the internal antenna tuner, I know "SWR" in CW sounds if no match can
> be found, but what should I hear if the tuning was successful?  Also, is
> tuning only necessary before transmitting but not for receiving (just
> listening)?  Basically, what's the best way to employ the internal antenna
> tuner?
>
>
>
> About "scanning" what I mean here is manually dialing through the band - not
> auto scanning of any sort.  So, when doing this what mode (e.g., AM, FM,
> USB, LSB) should I be in to best hear some activity?  Also, am I correct
> that once I hear something I can then switch among these modes so as to
> better tune-in the activity?
>
>
>
> Many thanks!  This is all new to me; so any tricks are greatly appreciated.
> This is especially so for how best to use the internal antenna tuner!
>
>
>
> 73,
>
> Richard KK6MRH
>
>
>