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11 meter is very quiet?

Yeh...what they said. I usually talk Skip on SSB. Stateside USA skip I go by 556 North Carolina. International stuff I go by 2NC556 (2 November Charlie 556) for all the same reasons Shadetree Mechanic stated. Each country has their own division number...some people don't use them but most do.

Have fun
I thought I had come up with a perfect call sign, 03MO556 until I saw yours. Maybe I will go with 223 instead of 556 even though we both know it’s not the same thing. lol
 
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I thought I had come up with a perfect call sign, 03MO556 until I saw yours. Maybe I will go with 223 instead of 556 even though we both know it’s not the same thing. lol
The first number is your division, if in the US we are division 2, second letters is your choice, maybe your state or usually the club call sign, like alpha tango (AT) last 3 or 4 should be numbers of your choice, mine is 2ET703, 2 for US, ET for Elevation Texas, 703 is my old rural route number, I use 703 on regular 40, the whole thing when talking international, if your radio tunes 27.555, listen in and see how it's done, they will call and identify their self and switch to another less crowded frequency
 
DX is one of the things totally new to me and I’m still trying to understand how contacts are made. I do get that conditions have to be right. ie. solar activity. I’m guessing dxing is what back in the day we called shooting skip. There are too many AM and SSB channels to be able to monitor all of them. What’s the trick? Are there certain frequencies/channels that are more popular than others? Is a ground plane a sufficient antenna or do I need a beam to make the contacts? I do have a couple of different amps available to use if that helps. Regular local traffic is dead around the KC area.
Yes, DXing is the same as "shooting skip. NO you do not need a beam or 1Kw to make long distance contacts, they help but not mandatory. When conditions are right I make good contacts with 30 watts on an Inverted V wire dipole on a condo balcony. I can't compete with the world wide needlebenders but I don't care or want to. To me the fun is in talking 2000+ miles on relatively low power and a simple but efficient setup. But that's me. If your ground plane is set up well and radiates efficiently you will make some DX contacts.
Monitor 27.385 LSB and you will hear when conditions are right. Lately for me (in the Midwest) the band is open mid-morning to mid afternoon but it can happen anytime. When things get really busy operators will move to the adjacent quieter frequencies to make contacts. Going above 27.405 if possible for you will open up more opportunities. I use a local SDR waterfall display to show me what frequencies possible contacts are on across the band. 27.415 to 27.605 can be great sometimes and much quieter. There should be a SDR in or near KC you can use. Since I'm lowish power it sometimes takes a while to be heard (sometimes not at all) but I keep trying. Having a QSO with a station in another country or on the opposite end of ours is a blast.
Hope this helps and have fun.

73
 
Been a good couple of days for sure. I haven't heard anything outside of the US/Canada but at least fun to hear the skip.
 
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