Thursday, April 12, 2018

In Praise of the 30 Meter Band


A few years ago when the solar cycle was just off its peak, 30 meters was mighty good.  But now as we head into the bottom of the cycle, it's becoming damned near essential.  Take for example today's late afternoon band conditions:

Need more convincing?  Here, have some VOACAP coverage maps:
This 40m band is too local...

This 20m band is too full of holes!

Aaaah.  This 30m band is juust right.

Thirty meters gets the job done in the current crummy band conditions.  No voice allocation there, but if you're a data mode junky it looks like the place to be for the next few years.  Now if we could just get some more traffic on 30. (hint, hint)  It's not exactly clogged up with contesters trying to shout over each other.

ps: It occurs to me that about 47 feet of wire would let my little LNR EFT-10-20-40 trail antenna work 30 as well.  This will happen very soon.

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