Many of the HF phone bands have been depopulated during non-contest times. The FT8 frequencies are quite active. VHF/UHF repeaters are dead quiet most days. DMR can support a lot of activity, but is mostly quiet. Even a “busy” talkgroup like 3100 is quiet for hours on end. HF CW activity is also down, but …
The 30 meter band became available to USA Amateur Radio operators in the early 1980s, so why didn’t I know anything about it? Well, to be fair, I did know that our real estate of 10.100–10.150 MHz was next door to the oft-used time standard station WWV on 10 MHz. I also knew that there was …
Out in the back yard, far from the house and all the neighboring houses, is my Butternut HF9V vertical HF antenna. It’s ground-mounted and fed with underground 50 ohm coaxial hard line. There’s a three foot high wooden fence surrounding the base to keep dogs and critters at bay. Three UV-resistant Dacron rope guys run …
We need more HF ops! Tune across the HF bands anytime but a contest weekend and you’ll hear plenty of nothing – unless you happen upon the FT8 frequencies – they always seem to have activity. Even so, there’s plenty of empty real estate, and even the CW portions of the bands seems wanting these …