HFU HF Underground
General Category => Amateur Radio => Topic started by: ThaDood on September 07, 2021, 1906 UTC
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Huh... Even with all those lightning crashes, even being heard up to 10MHz, last night at 06:30UTC, ops on 1880kHz LSB were back on rag chewin'. And, all were coming in from S5 to S9. I guess that's a sign of Fall. Saturday night, I also heard that Gateway News 160M AM at 1860kHz, WA0RCR, at S10/9 - S20/9 signal. http://www.wa0rcr.com/
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There is often a nighttime ragchew or two on 160m here, even during the tropical weather season. Mostly just ops around the state, though, so not exactly weak signal DX work.
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Ive always wanted to get into 160M, but don't have the height or room for a decent antenna. Worked a couple of station before on CW with a tuned 80M dipole 400 miles away or so. I'll def give it a lesson though. This time of year in Florida, I'm not even able to turn on my radio when I get home due to lightning sometimes for days at a time.
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CW might be the best way to QSO on 160M with smaller antennas, and 100W, or less. That, and maybe FT8. My experience on 160M is, unless you pound them with at least an S20/9 signal, they don't seem to want to have much to do with you. They call it 'The Gentleman's band', but I see it more as a band of smugness. Just my take. One of the reasons that I like the newer 60M band. You are on par with everyone else at 100W, or less. That, and 60M is open 24/7 to somewhere.
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Often wondered how nbfm would do on the lower bands when static crashes make life miserable, but it's certainly not going to be good for dx or anything other than nvis. The modulation stays within that of am bandwith so it's legal below 10m. Someone's going to have to try.
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This time of year in Florida, I'm not even able to turn on my radio when I get home due to lightning sometimes for days at a time.
I would not suggest using your FT-950 with lightning in the area, but you still could use your SDR or portable at least for listening with your outdoor antenna(s). Build a simple ESD protection circuit with a couple of diodes, LED, etc. for extra peace of mind, or order pretty much the same thing from eBay listed as a SDR guard for around $15 to $20 shipped. I have a couple of the eBay units on my primary receivers.
Going a step further, you also could put a cheap $6 eBay LNA preamp in line. If ESD cooks it, you are out a few dollars for a replacement. It probably is not ideal for SNR, but if the alternative is not listening to HF radio at all for days at a time…. ;)
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They call it 'The Gentleman's band', but I see it more as a band of smugness. Just my take.
Also, if talking AM on 160 or 75, remember you surely need to be using a decommissioned BCB transmitter weighing hundreds of pounds (or more) with a Gates, RCA, etc. logo. Bonus points if you are modulating 10KHz+ wide.