For this morning I’ve been home for some time and I’ve been looking up some CW activations being spotted on 40m and later on 20m. They were not copied here or just barely felt at unworkable signal levels.
On the other hand, a couple of activators so far have been wise enough to try 30m and both have been copied with very good signals here.
I also heard they worked stations in the UK, OZ to mention some few.
Let me strongly recommend the CW activators to try 30m.
At this time of the year with the propagation conditions we have, it’s the money band.
Try it and you won’t get disappointed.
73,
Just as well that I ordered a 30m version of the QCX 5W QRP kit. According to the email, mine was shipped on Monday. I doubt I’ll have time to build it before I go to EA8 in early November. I’ll make sure I try 30m CW when I’m there.
Good kit choice, however, I’m a bit in doubt on how well 30m will behave for you for reaching EU from EA8, which is over 2000 Km away from me near the western side of the Spanish-French border.
From EA8, 20m and mostly 15m will be ideal to reach EU in good conditions, I suspect.
But for distances of around 1000Km, while activations from HB, DL, F are not being heard here neither on 40 nor 20m this morning, I copied and worked very easily Eva DL/HB9FPM/P (1348 Km) and Gerhard DL4TO/P (1148 Km)
Good luck when in EA8 and I hope to be able to work you.
73,
2 HB9 activators might have been reading this thread while in their summits, as they have QSYed to 30m, the money band and I managed to easily chase them.
Conditions seem to be changing on 40m too, as another HB9 activating on 40m CW is now pretty well copied here and has also been chased by now.
7 chases so far before lunch…
Time for sandwich now
30m has been my ‘money’ band for a few years. Of course, most know that I really like to work NA stations, for that 20m is my choice. I did once work W4ZV with a RockMite 30, but Bill has mighty good ears!
I chose 30m as the band for my KD1JV Soda Pop, which I finished soldering, and tested for the first time, on Sunday. I still have the box to make.
Thanks for your thoughts on 30M. I think it’s my favorite band on many activations, for several reasons:
30M covers a large part of the USA effectively at mid-day.
30M reaches many of my favorite chasers and activators.
30M is ideal for several mountain areas favored by busy activators.
30M is quieter than 40M, especially for QRN from storms.
There are no disruptive contests on 30M.
In the USA power is limited to 200W, so there are few over-powered chasers.
With sunspots declining and the solar flux going down to base level, 20M is often too long for many SOTA signal paths, while 30M now is ideal for those same stations.
Our recent situation with increased solar activity and excellent propagation on 20M and 17M has been fun, but now those solar active regions have rotated behind the sun, so we have near-solar-minimum conditions again.
Under these conditions, many activators and chasers in the USA are too close to me for 20M propagation, but too far for good reception on 40M at mid-day, when path losses are high. I find that 30M is often the only band that works.
I’ll be using 30M as part of my mix for activations. It certainly will be the money band on many days, as we go forward into solar minimum.
30m is my favourite band also for SOTA, gives good coverage across Western Europe from GM. Plus you dont have to compete with a contest at the weekend!
I am surprised at how small the dead zone can be on 30m. I was out walking with my XYL on Monday and I activated GM/CS-036 Carn Bhac. I worked G4OBK at about 350km on what can only be groundwave, then G3VXJ at about 700km which will be first hop. Rig was KX2 with internal atu, 7.4m vertical wire wound on 6m pole with 4 x 7.4m radials on the rocky ground. This works great on 20m also with the internal atu, N1GB worked followed by a few UA9’s in a short 10 minute session on 20.
I think KX0R hit the nail on the head. I’ve found that 30 is great for activations in the western US, and I usually have no trouble getting more than four contacts on 30. Its also the only band I can be very specific on what frequency I’ll be on, and be nearly sure it won’t be in use when I get to the summit.
The kit itself goes together very quickly. A few evenings is all it took for me and I’m really time limited. Enclosing it is another matter…
I built mine for 80m to compliment the MTR3b but was seriously torn about 30m. Worked my first CW contact in half a year on 30m (817) on Saturday (S2S), now that I have an antenna. No complaints.
