Yes, the knobs are original. The G50 Communicator came out with blue plastic knobs, but they switched to the metal ones towards the end production. To be honest, I like the looks of the blue knobs better.
Yes, there's a lot of 6 meter activity near me. There are 5 FM 6 meter repeaters I can use (3 of those are pretty active). The interest and use of 6 meters in the Knoxville area is definitely picking up these days. There's several of us who like restoring tube gear, so AM activity is picking up ground. We're working on getting a monthly AM net started specifically for tube gear operators. I'm really looking forward to that!
We also have several other 6 meter nets that are active. The local club runs a 6 meter net every Sunday night that starts off on a repeater, then moves over to sideband, and then on to AM. One of my favorites is a Wednesday night "Rag Chew Net" that meets on the 53.250 repeater, it's a lot of fun. We all get together and talk for a couple hours every Wednesday.
Of course, 6 meter's is pretty dead for DXing at the moment. I can't wait for the June/July "Sporadic E" season where I can get in some good DX.
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