Being an old "HAM" living on S.S. I Purchased a great looking Lafayette 50A
in anticipation of the 6 Meter skip.
NO ONE is on the air here in Ft. Myers, Fl on 30 to 50 Mhz, there for I can't test it without a
RF Generator.
My question to a bunch of knowledgeable guys is : can I retune the Lafayette 50A
to 50 to 54 MHZ in order to receive the 6 Meter band ? and is it a big job???
Please Advise and thank You... FRED...N3JFN... freddbro@aol.com

Being an FM receiver, adjusting it to hear the 6 meter band but only on FM probably won't be all that exciting to listen to. Most all of the action is on CW and SSB in a fairly narrow portion of the band. If you include the beacons, figure 50 to about 50.200 MHz with the bulk of activity centered around 50.125.
The people on FM just won't have the antennas to do well at all during an opening.
There are some good sporadic E layer openings but they are not all that often. I would wager you can largely forget about any F layer openings for this solar cycle and from some predictions, the next handful of cycles as well.
The contests do bring people out on 6 but sometimes it is mostly the locals working each other and again, it is on CW or SSB
You may catch a few guys on 6 FM but I used to have 6 FM in the mobile and after a year or so of experiencing little activity on the repeaters here in the Seattle area, I sold it.

If you have no other gear, you should try to find a reasonably priced older ham receiver or shortwave receiver that can receive ssb effectively. There is ALWAYS something to listen to on HF. Much more exciting!!

I'll assume you're talking about a HA-50A. There is probably enough slop in the oscillator to move tuning into the 6 meter band. But I wouldn't get to excited about it. As reported, most of the action, especially when the band is open (late spring through the summer) is on SSB and CW, neither of which would make much sense listening to on a FM receiver. However, a 30 to 50 MHz receiver, makes an excellent monitoring alarm for possible 6 meter openings as the MUF rises or the appearance of some Sporadic E ionization between two locations.

Pete

Thank You for the advice never thought of FM or SSB..
What about a 50.125 MHZ Xystal hard wired to use set as a moniter as
a member previously suggested ??
I imagine converting to AM is out of Question..
Thank You Very Much... FRED... 73...

Hard wiring a crystal in is probably not worth the trouble. The receiver selectivity is roughly 10 to 15 KHz wide. Just set the receiver dial a hair above the 50 MHz mark and you're listening to the lower end of 50 MHz. You might be able to receive slightly more of 6 meters by adjusting the oscillator trimmer A10 (the only trimmer sticking out of the chassis (near the rear of the variable tuning capacitor). But, unless you get rid of the ratio detector or convert it to a diode detector, and add a BFO and/or product detector, it's all a waste of time. Plus for decent reception, a 3 to 5 element horizontal beam, either rotatable or at least from your location pointed towards the Northwest for good U.S. coverage, should be used. Most CW/SSB/AM stations are using horizontal polarization.

Better off getting a AM/SSB/CW receiver that covers 6 meters or a cheap HF receiver with an equally cheap 6 meter converter.

Pete

WOW you guys realy know your stuff, at 68 years young I wish I would have followed
my Radio dreams...
Oddly, I lived near Marconies Radio Station in Babylon, L.I. and now down
the street (McGregor) from Edison's winter home / lab....
Please keep up your most informative information...
Thank You...FRED... N3JFN... 73