This weekend was the ARRL 10m SSB and CW contest. I didn't participate in the contest, but I did use it as an opportunity to play on the mostly quiet band. There have been several times when I caught 10m band openings over the summer, but I didn't really know what to expect here in December. To my surprise, I was able to make 7 voice contacts in the short time I was on the band. Most of the contacts were in California, 1 was in Colombia, and 1 was in Chile! I couldn't believe I got Chile at almost 5,000 miles away on 10m phone while I continually hear people say that 10m is completely silent until the peak of the sunspot cycle...
One reason 10m is so quiet is the fact that people continue to spread bad information. They say the band is completely dead and a waste of time. So when there is an opening, nobody knows because they believe the band to be unusable...
I find that 10m and 6m are alot of fun since they present a challenge. What a great feeling it is to make contacts on these bands when they open!
73 de KG4LST sk
No comments:
Post a Comment