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Author Topic: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?  (Read 1172 times)

Offline bran1har

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Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?
« on: January 04, 2022, 2326 UTC »
What is the best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night time? 4Mhz, 7Mhz, 9Mhz, etc? THoughts

Offline Big Badfish Al

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Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2022, 2345 UTC »
1720 to 1750 MW
4020 to 4200 SW
6900 to 7000 SW is good but tons of stations there from pirates to data to experimental stations and jammers

In the winter time,  theses are the best.

9000 to 10000 is good for later afternoon before sunset to like 1 hours after. All depends on the frequency.
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Offline Charlie_Dont_Surf

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Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2022, 0358 UTC »
What is the best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night time? 4Mhz, 7Mhz, 9Mhz, etc? THoughts

I'm going to turn this around and ask you, "What are you seeking to do?" "What sort of range are you seeking to cover?" "What would you consider to be "best"?

43 meters (6900+ KHz) goes "long" after dark but coverage can be spotty, depending upon a variety of factors. 73 meters (4000+ KHz) is more of a regional band and perhaps more predictable but requires a larger antenna.
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Every minute Charlie squats in the bush, his signal gets stronger."

Offline ThaDood

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Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2022, 0742 UTC »
That's what I was going to ask on what coverage would be desired, regional, or other-side-of-the-world, coverage? Ya know, Sporadic E for Winter has just kicked-in, so be monitoring the CB 27MHz band for those short-skip stations that can be heard from early evening to even past midnight. There's still that little used 11M International Broadcast Band from 25.670MHz - 26.100MHz. 5W on AM to a 1/2-wave 11M dipole could do wonders there. The most listeners that ya might get would be CB Outbanders, but what comments might ya kick up after doing a broadcast. Certainly, can give you an idea that you have been heard. (Hi-hi...) Do forget to try and use DX Maps,    https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&ML=M&Map=W2LN&HF=N&DXC=ING2&GL=S
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Offline RobRich

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Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at nigh
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2022, 1118 UTC »
MUF and foF2 can help plan a HF activity, be it amateur radio, pirate radio, etc. Note the maps are estimates, but the general idea is MUF is the max frequency for usable DX and foF2 is the max frequency for usable NVIS.

https://prop.kc2g.com/about/

Monitor the above linked maps for a couple of days, and you will see why the suggestions by Charlie_Dont_Surf are popular hotspots for pirate radio broadcasts.
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Offline CoolAM Radio

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Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2022, 1556 UTC »
It also depends of the location where you are!



Andre
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« Last Edit: January 07, 2022, 1605 UTC by CoolAM Radio »
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Offline redhat

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Re: Best band to start broadcasting pirate SW on at night?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2022, 1911 UTC »
As others have stated, it depends on where you are and who you are trying to reach.  You can use the VOA propagation tool to get an idea of where you can be heard with different power levels, antennas, and time of day, frequency, etc.   https://www.voacap.com/hf/ This is what I use to test various 'what if' questions.  Just remember, power stated is in PEP, not carrier.

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