That’s pretty telling - nice breakdown of the data! 
It’s always seemed that 20M is the money maker.
I tend to use 40m, 30m & 20m.
I’ve tended to use 30m a lot in the past, although I do like 20m too.
I’ve had little success on 17m and 15m although I have managed some pretty long distance DX on these bands at times.
40m doesn’t excite me, but it can be nice to check in with more local hams, although I find the lack of bandwidth there a bit annoying, it can be hard to find a quiet frequency.
Colin
One more thing… I forgot to mention the mode breakdown, if anyone is interested.
CW = 3834 QSOs
SSB = 896 QSOs
FM = 60 QSOs (2M, 70CM)
One reason there aren’t more SSB QSOs is because the QRP signals are so hard to hear on SSB.
73
John, K6YK
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Hi A.J., thanks for the S2S yesterday! In the southeast U.S., most activators have added 60 meters to the ‘standard’ bands worked. At this point of the sun cycle, 40 meters is generally too long to work local contacts and 60 or even 80 will help fill in that gap. Tuning your antenna for these bands may not be that efficient, but you will probably have some happy chasers. It is not uncommon for us to get 10+ contacts on the lower bands before heading to ‘normal’ bands. I tend to not pay too much attention to the forecasted condx and play the bands, which often yields contacts that could not hear me on other bands. But I like to hang out on the summit for a long time and have time to fiddle around usually.
73, pat - ki4svm
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Depends on all the usual things (what kit have I brought, how much time do I have…).
Ideally though I like to look for some close range (VHF) contacts; inter-G (to speak to the regular chasers); and then have a look for some DX.
So that’s typically 2 or 3 HF bands per activation.
AS a chaser 13 bands
AS an activator between 1 & 5 bands at most (145-14-10-7-5 MHZ)
These numbers are for my activations for just this last year, showing %age of QSO’s by Band and Mode here in W7A
| BAND | # QSO’s | % |
|---|---|---|
| 80m | 31 | 1.1% |
| 60m | 44 | 1.6% |
| 40m | 769 | 27.3% |
| 30m | 37 | 1.3% |
| 20m | 1373 | 48.7% |
| 17m | 26 | 0.9% |
| 15m | 8 | 0.3% |
| 12m | 2 | 0.1% |
| 10m | 14 | 0.5% |
| 6m | 13 | 0.5% |
| 2m | 301 | 10.7% |
| 70cm | 28 | 1.0% |
| 23cm | 122 | 4.3% |
| 2768 | ||
| MODE | ||
| SSB | 53 | 1.9% |
| CW | 2265 | 81.8% |
| FM | 450 | 16.3% |
| 2768 |
Pete
WA7JTM
W7A
2 Likes
Pete,
Boy, you guys have some great VHF activity down there !
That’s great. Maybe So. Cal. is like that? Not here, just a few
HT ops on 2 meters, that’s it.
I forgot to check 12 meters, but think it’s zero QSOs.
73,
John, K6YK
Hi John,
We do have a lot of VHF action here these days.Lots of new SOTA ops lately. There are 19 SOTA activators on 1296 currently (a few more are looking for radios), and even 902 is catching on now thanks to Alnco HT’s Hi HI.
In the January VHF contest I made 148 contacts on VHF…a bunch of them on 1296.
I had an activation last week where I made 25 VHF contacts on 5 different VHF bands…all on HT’s. Never even got on HF…to busy on VHF…
1296 is the hot band here these days…my longest 1296 HT to HT (1 watt) contact is up to 165 miles now…I think I have discovered an s2s path for 200 miles…just gotta get someone to agree to activate the southern peak to give it a shot.
The secret is to get just a few ops on 1296…talk it up…and new hams, especially Technician ops will likely get involved.
Here’s hoping u get VHF radio active soon!
73
Pete/JTM
Thanks @wa7jtm ! Your post prompted me to take a look at my logs for the last year. I am sure there are differences based on location, operating and band preferences but it is still interesting. 60 meters is alive and well in the SE.
| Band | QSOs | % |
|---|---|---|
| 80m | 29 | 1.1% |
| 60m | 579 | 21.2% |
| 40m | 467 | 17.1% |
| 30m | 273 | 10.0% |
| 20m | 1057 | 38.6% |
| 17m | 133 | 4.9% |
| 15m | 24 | 0.9% |
| 12m | 1 | 0.0% |
| 10m | 4 | 0.1% |
| 2m | 169 | 6.2% |
| Modes | ||
| SSB | 427 | 15.6% |
| CW | 2152 | 78.7% |
| FM | 157 | 5.7% |
| 2736 |
73, pat - ki4svm
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Hello all,
Typical activation is XYL Kay on 40M, (+15M, if necessary to avoid getting skunked) then yours, truly, on 60M, then 30M, then 17M. KX2 or KX3; change the band, push the tuner button, and send the spot, if cell service. End fed, generally horizontal. CW only.
Ken, K6HPX, and Kay, KE7BGM
Here is the QSO breakdown per band / mode. This was my typical activation, 20 w & linked dipole. The number of contacts may differ depending on propagation. I’d say that my primary bands are 40 / 30 / 20
For me it’s similar to Phil.
As an activator, my main band is 40m. Basically I try 2-3 bands more during an activation.
73 Marcel DM3FAM
Was great to work you Pat!, my first day working S2S on HF!
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Hi Pete!
Wow, that VHF activity is great! It used to be pretty good around here,
but not anymore. I used to be real active on 6,2,432 CW/SSB but there’s nobody to work anymore. I think the Pacific Northwest has a lot of action. Myself and N6LHL went up to the mountains for the June VHF contest a couple of times and struggled to make 100 QSOs on all bands combined! Not good…
73,
John K6YK
I usually use 20, 30 and 40 m. When solar activity increases - I use 17 and 15 m bands.
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I totally agree. I activate mainly on work days usually between 1000z and 1400z and I’ve pretty much always been able to qualify a summit using 30m with 10W CW and an EFHW. With winter weather, I restrict myself to two HF bands. I like to do 60m to include regional and local chasers. With better weather and more time at the summit, I like to add 40m and 20m.
I know this topic is about HF bands, but I take the 2m HT too as we have a very active 2m chaser community in my area (G/LD and G/NP).
I am limited to 20/30/40 and have a linked EFHW for that setup. That said I have started carrying a 17m QCX Mini with it’s own antenna (have not had a chance to make a new antenna for all 4 bands yet and it’s weight is minimal). If I have time and both radios, I will work all 4 bands, seems early in the day 17 is better for the DX than 20. I do not do much 2m in my area because not a lot of folks listening to VHF around me. If I am pressed for time, I typically focus on 40m, especially my later in the day activations.
Here are my stats, trying to mix it up as much as possible, but core of most activations has been 20m/40m/80m on SSB, although now with CW becoming a possibility I am missing 30m and 60m due to a combination of antennas and rigs, to be addressed.
| Band | Contacts |
|---|---|
| 3.5 | 534 |
| 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 825 |
| 10 | 5 |
| 14 | 1019 |
| 18 | 19 |
| 21 | 2 |
| 28 | 5 |
| 70 | 1 |
| 144 | 865 |
| 433 | 2 |
| Mode | Contacts |
|---|---|
| CW | 14 |
| Data | 9 |
| DV | 43 |
| FM | 830 |
| SSB | 2387 |
2 Likes
How to get these stats?
For me typically just 40 m cw. To be honest, I don’t want to stay at the summit for too long… May be this year I will switch to 60 m cw. I always call on 2 m FM for the locals, but rarely get answer (approx 50 %).
if I have time I call on 30 and 20 as well.
73 Martin