In the early hours of December 5th 2013, with Analogue television switched off, the Amateurs in New Zealand had the 6 meter (50Mhz) band exclusively returned to them after 53 years.
Sure there were licenses allocated to amateurs to use the band during this time, but they were limited to where they could use it, how much power they could transmit with, and how far away from some TV transmission towers they could be.
I had worked in TV for 13 years at this stage, starting back in late 1999.
And never did I believe, I would have been one of the first (if not the first) to use the 50mhz band after analogue switch off, and exclusive access returned, but here you go – me, calling the first CQ on the national calling frequency 50.110Mhz in just over 53 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLtwsvXbR1E
– honoured, privileged, and a little chuffed is all I can say –
My friend Jeremy would have been proud of me, but he passed away 6 weeks before, never seeing a day where the QRM annoyance of Waiatarua (Auckland’s TV Transmission tower) would no longer affect his radio listening pleasure.
Since getting my Ham license, I have always been interested in 6 meters – mainly because it was the TV transmission band, but I will always have a love for this band, and discovering this video on Youtube, has made me fall in love with it all over again.