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Most popular ham band?

nat19

Active Member
Nov 18, 2009
232
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28
West Virginia
I am not a ham but I was wondering what is the most popular ham band or bands. In other words where would you have the best chance of making contact to someone. I may take my test in the future but I don't know yet.
 

The most popular hame band?

The VHF / UHF bands 2 meter is usually the most popular but 440 mhz and 6 meter does have a fair bit of action depending on the area you are in,but these bands are normally non DX bands,local area only...usually...On occasion they will have openings that allows contacts from 200 to 1000 miles,but this dont happen often or hold for long periods

HF bands...below 30 MHZ,is a horse of a different color

That depends on the time of day,and band conditions at the given time ..not to mention just how much the sunspot cycle is effecting the ionsphere.
Some bands are open at night and some are open during the day ,and for now some are not open at all or open for just a few hours or minutes

But for a general idea usually 160, 80,40 and 20 are a good starting point 17,15 ,12,and 10 now do have openings but those are not on a regular basis...but just give it another year or two and you will start seeing that all the bands will be open at some point over the day

But from what I have been hearing for now 80 and 40 are good bands to be scanning for contacts
 
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I am not a ham but I was wondering what is the most popular ham band or bands. In other words where would you have the best chance of making contact to someone. I may take my test in the future but I don't know yet.

Nat, as mentioned there is a lot of activity on many bands based on different conditions. It depends to a certain degree on what you want out of the spectrum. Some are content with the privileges that are allowed with the Technician class license. There are some HF phone privileges allowed there on 10 meters but the conditions there have been nominal at best the past several years. They are supposed to improve and there have been some openings but if one wants to make contacts long distance they will have to wait for things to get better. Normally if 10 meters opens up there will also be openings on 6 meters as well.

I have noted to a certain extent, (no real empirical data mind you) that some have decided that when they enter into the hobby they choose to study and take both the Technician and the General exams at the same time in order to take full advantage of the HF privileges available. This lets them enjoy the hobby without too many restrictions on where they want to operate. Granted there are more operating modes than just phone ops and one can really take advantage of the other modes and extend the range of what one can do in amateur radio. It all goes back to what you want out of the hobby.

For me I have really enjoyed the hobby and the continued learning experiences it provides.

Hope this helped a little. I sure others will chime in and provide some more insight for you on this topic.;)


73:)

Wayne C.
 
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Most popular band? It pretty much depends on the time of day. Right now during the day I would say 20m is the best bet. Later tonight when the band closes 20m will be dead but 40 and 80m will be hopping. Different bands for different times of the day and different parts of the solar cycle.In general 20m is probably the best band for dx'ing however.
 
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Thanks, I think i will start studying for the test. In the mean time what would be a good 2 meter radio to start looking at buying? Just wanting some ideas. Also what about antennas?
 
... depends on the time of day. Right now during the day I would say 20m is the best bet. Later tonight when the band closes 20m will be dead but 40 and 80m will be hopping...

yep, i am in a group that uses 40 all morning 'till about 2 pm (local), but , we are all QRO and have a lot of metal in the air.

if i was just looking for contacts, i would try 20 during the daylight hours.
 
Most popular Amateur Band

Well I would say in this order if you are a ragchewer. or Dxer like myself,

#1 160 ssb if you have the room- 160 cw
#2 75 ssb 40 cw
#3 20 ssb 80 cw
#4 40 ssb 20 cw
#5 17 ssb 17 cw
#6 15 ssb 15 CW
#7 10 ssb 12 cw
#8 12 ssb 10 cw
6 cw
This is about how I have been operating the last 5 yrs or so-this will all chance
when the SSN-Kp-and A index changes up and down according to the Solar Cycle'
 
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