SOTA SSB Calling Frequencies?

Hi All,

When I was in Australia, I used to leave my rig on 7090 KHz to listen for any SSB SOTA activators. This worked well, when an activator was out of cell tower range and could not spot, I could spot him/her.

I wonder if anywhere else uses this approach - I realise that it’s difficult to find ANY free frequency in Europe but I have seen that in the latest DARC (German) bandplans, there are frequencies allocated for QRP SSB operation which I think tie in with common SOTA SSB activator used frequencies - as follows:

80m 3690KHz
40m 7090KHz
20m 14285KHz
17m 18130KHz
15m nothing
12m 24940-24990KHz
10m nothing

I think these are meant to be standard across IARU Region 1 ?

Does anyone monitor these frequencies? If free should I use these frequencies when activating?

73 Ed.

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Interested in the responses to this.

40m SSB SOTA preferred frequency in Europe seems to be around 7.118 from experience Ed.

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Ed,
I note from the DARC HF band plan that 21285kHz, 24950kHz and 28360kHz are suggested as SSB QRP activity centres in their respective bands.

Rob

I agree with Andy, I frequently check 7.118. 14.285 is widely accepted as a QRP frequency but note that in the USA 14.286 is the ARRL AM calling frequency, you couldn’t dream up a worse combination! A quick check of my log shows 3.666 as frequently used, as is 5.3985. Note that while these frequencies are suggested for QRP they do not even have the status of a gentleman’s agreement - they are not agreed internationally, even if they were QRP operators would have no special rights to them unless they appear internationally on licenses. SOTA itself has no official calling frequencies.

A final thought: The five primary HFpack calling frequencies are 14.3425, 14.346, 18.1575, 18.1175 and 5.3715, the full list of HFpack frequencies can be found on http://hfpack.com/air/ but I rarely hear any activity, perhaps SOTA has taken the wind out of their sails!

Brian

7.118 MHz in Ireland seems to be widely regarded as a QRO-O frequency :wink: …, x.120 is often clear I find.

Jonathan

on most of my previous activations it was very hard to find a free qrg between 7070 and 7200. best time for QRP on 40m is 1200 LT … lunch time :smile:

I tend to use 7.120Mhz and try to leave 7.118 for INKy incase he gets upset at someone using his freq :wink:

On CW I have found that the freqs between 7.030 and .035 get very busy these days so tend to go lower to about .025.

73 Glyn

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I rarely hear them!

In the last twelve months I have had 181 chases on forty, of which 53 were on 7.118, just under 30%. Most of the remainder were within 5 kHz of this frequency, making it a worthwhile region of the band to monitor.

Brian

I suppose it always depends on times, as an Activator I tend to often find that frequency “occupied”, although yes +/- not very much is usually the place to aim.

I remember for while there was a station on x.118 that used to regularly read out the “amateur radio news” w/e that was, it certainly wasn’t QRP.

Jonathan.

Thanks Rob. It’s strange that the DARC document from just a month later (26. September 2014) lost those frequencies in its list (also the top band one).
Ed.

Hi Brian, I was referring to IARU region 1 band plan - of course other regions are likely to be different - which is NOT a help when the bands are open HI!

Ed.

Well, that’s the odd thing, Ed. If you Google QRP frequencies and look at the American sites they all acknowledge 14.285 - except for the ARRL, which proclaims 14.286 as the AM calling frequency! Odd, isn’t it? AFAICS it isn’t the only time the ARRL has been the only one in step!

I think it is safe to say that 14.285 is pretty well international, and +/- 5-10 kHz is a major SOTA watering hole.

Brian

I usually find a couple of Greeks sitting on 14.285 every evening. 4-5 greek guys from eu, us and australia.

Tasos

Personally have noted on 40m its 7118.
20m its 14285 tend to leave radio on here.
15m 21285
and 10 m 28360 and 28470 seems popular.

Can’t comment on the WARC bands as not have as yet.#
All SSB

So what’s the favoured CW Freq’s on these bands ?

Karl

7.032, 14.062, 21.062 all +/- one or two kHz.

On the WARC bands, the frequencies vary. Check the alerts and spots on SOTAwatch.

73,
Walt (G3NYY)

Cheers for that Walt.

Sometimes just listening to said freqs you can catch one prior to it being put up on the spots.

Just heard one calling out very weak on 14285
Could not get his call QSB kicked in :frowning:

Turns out to be CT2IXX/p CT/BB-018 spot turned up five minute later,s :slight_smile:

Karl

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I think it is safe to say that 14.285 is pretty well international, and +/- 5-10 kHz is a major SOTA watering hole

Guys, NOBODY does AM on 14.286 here in the USA. The big issue is that 14.285 is often occupied by one USA net or another and I’ve fought a losing battle for 3 years trying to convince EU activators NOT to use 14285KHz.

FWIW, I think 21285KHz is a poor choice for activation. Why not go 100KHz higher and be in the empty part of the band?

73, Barry N1EU

:+1:

Perhaps because if its empty there is nobody there who might come across you without the benefit of alerts and spots?

Just a few of the sites I found recommending 14.285:
GQRP club

smeter.net
qrpp.org
qsl.net

fpqrp.org

I’m afraid that the heavy artillery are against you!

Brian