Finally on HF!

[Atlasta]

Upgraded to General about 3 weeks ago and finally got around to stringing up a couple inverted V's for 40 and 75/80. With the tuner I can also work 20m.

First contact last night on 40 was an operator in NH. The PS for my 718 is a little weak so I was only hitting about 70w PEP. Still managed to have a nice QSO until the band changed.

Considering that I usually have to run around 400w to talk 60 miles on 11m, this was quite a surprise for me. As I tuned around I noticed how much quieter the other bands are. Why is it that 11m is plagued with so much atmospheric noise?

Spent the better part of last night tuning around and talking, enjoying the quality of audio and operating practices of the other hams. And then...

...then I tuned to 3840 KHz. WTF is going on with that frequency? I thought I was back on CB! Tuning around the bands I found several other frequencies that were being operated in a decidedly non- hamlike manner.
This I was not expecting. Fortunately the vast majority of the bands have decent operators.

I've only been on HF a day and already I hate those damn CBer's

Hope to catch you all on the bands one night!

KG7SKH

 

[543_Dallas]

Propagation is different as you get on the lower frequencies. 10 and 12 meters are a lot like 11 meters. On 40 meters you will hear lightning noise from storms a couple hundred miles away. You will find different bands have different noise levels at different times of day and different times of the year.

http://www.hamuniverse.com/hfbands.html


Another frequency that will remind you of ch 19 is 14.313 but I just listen there. I'm a radio enthusiast so I talk on 11 meters and any other band I can...except VHF/UHF repeaters.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Considering that I usually have to run around 400w to talk 60 miles on 11m, this was quite a surprise for me. As I tuned around I noticed how much quieter the other bands are. Why is it that 11m is plagued with so much atmospheric noise?
KG7SKH

Two points. First you don't need to run 400 watts on 11m to talk 60 miles unless your antenna is lying on the ground or you are living in a steep valley. I routinely talked that distance barefoot albeit usually on SSB.

Secondly 11m is not plagued by atmospheric noise any more than the other bands. In fact the lower you go, like 160m and 80m the noise becomes worse. Nothing quite like listening to a thunderstorm a thousand miles away on those bands. What you are hearing is the jumble of millions of signals all coming in at once when the DX is in. When DX is dead 11m is very quite unless you have a local source of electrical interference.

 

[Tallman]

Two points. First you don't need to run 400 watts on 11m to talk 60 miles unless your antenna is lying on the ground or you are living in a steep valley. I routinely talked that distance barefoot albeit usually on SSB.

I used to talk about 80 miles on SSB from a high hilltop in my mobile with co-phased S.S. 102" whips mounted high up on a 1965 Dodge Carry All. Looks like a Suburban. Antennas were tuned flat. Best talking mobile setup I have ever owned, great ears too as long as the station was in front of the truck. Additional power was not used.

 

[222DBFL]

Same here, even on flatland here in FL. I talk routinely 50-70 miles on SSB no problemo, unless the band conditions are just not favorable for it, like when the DX is coming in at S9+ from everywhere. It's exactly what CK stated it is. Millions of DX signals hitting you all at once. When there is no DX and low floor noise here it makes you think something's wrong with your radio. And like CK stated in my experience I've also noticed loud noise levels on 40m when 1 was pretty dead and quiet as well as far as noise went.

 

[6meter]

Upgraded to General about 3 weeks ago and finally got around to stringing up a couple inverted V's for 40 and 75/80. With the tuner I can also work 20m.

KG7SKH

Congrats and have fun. If you want to get a big jump on WAS (Worked All States) be ready for this weekends Sweepstakes contest.

http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes

If you put in the time you can make a ton of quick contacts and get a lot of different states in your log.

Speaking of log if you are going to chase any awards I would encourage you to get signed up and set up with LOTW.

You can still exchange paper QSL cards any time you want but having LOTW in the background racking up your confirmations can be cool.

 

[Atlasta]

Thanks for all the replies!

A bit of clarification: Of course I don't need 400w to talk 60 miles- at least not when the band is quiet. I do live in the middle of a valley but the mountains are far enough away to not make much difference- although the station I usually speak with is on the other side of those mountains and at a considerably lower elevation.

About the noise on 11m- Maybe it's just my radio (currently an Icom 718 ) but it just seems to have more overall background noise than 10 or 12m. 15 and 17 seem to be quiet- but I don't really have a resonant antenna for them yet so that may be a factor.

Am well familiar with hearing the noise from thunderstorms thousands of miles away!

As for contesting: It's something I've always heard about and the past few weekends listening around has given me an idea of how it's done- but for right now it seems just a bit too much for this HF greenhorn! Maybe at some point in the future, but for now I'm trying not to embarrass myself too much on the bands!