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Author Topic: 30 meters  (Read 2453 times)

Matt285

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30 meters
« on: December 11, 2019, 0019 UTC »
Whats up with 30 meters? 30 used to be my go to band. No contest. Propagation a combination of 20 and 40 with no contest with a 200 watt max. I miss working 10 mhz. This is based on CW activity. Maybe there is a bit more on digital, but even that portion seems pretty dead.

Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2019, 0317 UTC »
I remember about 15-20 years ago it had a lot more activity. Now I just hear the odd RTTY sounding mode or some digital activity from time to time.

Generally, although there are apparently "more hams than ever" (at least, according to the two ham forum sites I frequent), most of them must just look at their radios on the way to the TV set. Or so it seems. Propagation definitely isn't helping things much, though.
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+ GE SRIII, PR-D5 & TRF on MW.
The usual Realistic culprits on SW (and a Panasonic).

Offline Rob.

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2019, 1426 UTC »
A lot of hams don't call CQ anymore. Most wait for spots on the reflector to show something interesting or they jump into an existing conversation. I hear more CQs on AM than on SSB nowadays.
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Online autovon

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2019, 1943 UTC »
There's always a decent amount of FT8 activity.
Default RX location is Wisconsin using various wire antennas. Other RX will be noted.

Matt285

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2019, 2343 UTC »
Yes a lot of hams don't call CW anymore and base propagation on website reports. Also a lot of new Hams don't stick with it or tend to stay on FM 2M or 440 . Too bad

Offline Josh

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2019, 2329 UTC »
Indeed, lack of cq seems to be prevalent. I had been missing Russia and places eastward in the jt65 logs, they never heard me. I quickly learned to only call cq and never answer them because if I got an answer I knew they could hear me.

One day was fooling around in jt mode and called on a otherwise silent as in completely dead 20m, and just like that and with decent signal level a guy in Russia came back to me. Call cq.
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Offline chanito

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2019, 0136 UTC »

30m is packed every morning thru noon. FT8 is the preferred mode. At night, there are phone QSO's on ch 4 and 5 routinely. Lots of CW. You must be in a RF doldrum to not catch 30m daily.


From my QTH, yesterday morning I had PSKReporter pings from Indonesia to Siberia simultaneously, running 40w to a 120' wire 6' off the ground.
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Matt285

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2019, 1218 UTC »
Yeah. Not able to catch it during the day much. I used to work 30 a lot in the evening into Russia and various Ukrainian countries. CW only. Not into digital modes, I know they do well though

Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2019, 0057 UTC »

30m is packed every morning thru noon. FT8 is the preferred mode. At night, there are phone QSO's on ch 4 and 5 routinely. Lots of CW. You must be in a RF doldrum to not catch 30m daily.


From my QTH, yesterday morning I had PSKReporter pings from Indonesia to Siberia simultaneously, running 40w to a 120' wire 6' off the ground.

Phone? I was unaware that 30 meters was open to voice comms by hams. Did the rules change?

As for your comment about "RF doldrum", remember that in northern latitudes prop is usually poorer than in southern latitudes, due to the proximity of the auroral radio zone.
An AM radio Boombox DXer.
+ GE SRIII, PR-D5 & TRF on MW.
The usual Realistic culprits on SW (and a Panasonic).

Online autovon

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2019, 0311 UTC »
Probably thinking of 60M
Default RX location is Wisconsin using various wire antennas. Other RX will be noted.

Offline chanito

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2019, 1856 UTC »
Yeah, my bad. Had 60m on the brain. 30m though, still packed with digital goodness. You can work a lot of Oceania in the mornings.
PCR-1000, PCR-1500, RSP1A, RSP1, VR-120D, HDT-1, Accurian HD, Royal 3000
Caras HF-315, Belar LP-1A, SuperAntenna MP-1, RatShack 20-043 discone, MLA-30, 100' wire

Matt285

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2020, 0052 UTC »
Just figured I'd do an update now that I have my HF rig back. Still not hearing a lot of activity on 30m CW. I'm building a vertical now and had thought about cuting it for 30, but I just don't hear enough activity. Maybe digital (FT4/FT8) is more prevalent. I really miss the band. I love the wattage restrictions, no contest and the fact that most people run simple verticals or dipoles. Makes for a nice level playing field.

Matt285

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2020, 2124 UTC »
Hearing a fair amount of DX out of Europe this afternoon on 30. Most stations are pretty low though. The stronger tend to have a quick pile up and I'm too busy to work splits between cooking dinner and other things. Nice to hear though. Maybe I will cut the vertical for 30m after all.

Matt285

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Re: 30 meters
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2020, 2123 UTC »
30M has been great in the afternoon. Today I've worked Cuba, Slovenia, Denmark, PR, and a couple of others I didn't write down. Can't wait to try out the vertical when I have time to put it together.

 

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