Experiment: can we create an instant "band opening" on 40 meters?

[wayne burdick]

Apologies in advance, but I always wanted to try this. Perhaps it's
been done.

Suppose everyone listening on the reflector now decided to get on 40
meters all at the same time--SSB and CW? It's not a contest: call it a
spontaneous operating event. What made me think of it is that I'm
tuning around on 40 meters using scan mode on my K2, and I'm only
hearing a few stations. But conditions aren't that bad.

Interested in the possibilities? Spin your VFO knob. If the resulting
frequency ends in an odd number, call CQ. If it ends in an even number,
answer one. That simple.

Like I said, my sincere apologies if this experiment goes south....but
just in case, I'll be tuning 40 m for awhile.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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[wrmoore]

Well, I called CQ and raised KD5UDB, Chris, in Baton Rouge running KX1
Ser. No. 746!  Had a nice QSO until QSB got the best of us.  Then
couldn't raise anyone else.  Good idea Wayne!  I've been pretty inactive
lately, and that was nice.

73,
Randy, KS4L


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[al_lorona]

>
> Suppose everyone listening on the reflector now decided to get on 40
> meters all at the same time--SSB and CW? It's not a contest:
> call it a spontaneous operating event.

> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
> ---

This is so cool. I have often thought of this same exact situation. I
bet that at least 30% of the time, when a band sounds dead, there are
actually hordes of radio amateurs listening and thinking to themselves,
"Boy, the band is dead."

(This is one reason why contests are frequently surprising. It isn't
that conditions are any better, but there are just many more people on
the air, making it sound like it's really hot.)

I'm only sorry that I didn't see Wayne's message until much later
tonight, otherwise I would have been there.

I just spun my VFO knob at it came up on an odd number!


Al W6LX

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[Leigh L. Klotz Jr WA5ZNU]

I didn't get this in time ...

How about a standing schedule, like HFPack has?
Not a weekly net, but times (and frequencies) often enough to be
available but not too often so as to concentrate activity.
73,
WA5ZNU Leigh
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[wayne burdick]

About half an hour after I posted I did notice a significantly larger
number of stations. So maybe it worked  ;)  I had about five QSOs. None
were with Kx rigs, but like you said, Al, there are probably a lot of
passive listeners out there who heard more activity than usual and
jumped in.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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[Mychael Morohovich]

> How about a standing schedule, like HFPack has?
> Not a weekly net, but times (and frequencies) often enough to be
> available but not too often so as to concentrate activity.
> 73,
> WA5ZNU Leigh

I like this idea as well. On another list of which I am a member [Glowbugs],
last winter a few of the ops would get on top band at one or two preordained
frequencies, calling CQ on the hour and each half hour within a 2-3 hour
period of time. I found it an efficient method of hooking up with fellow
list members. Sometimes an interesting round table would develop!

Tnx,

Mychael AA3WF
K2#1025


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[Bill Coleman-2]

On Jun 11, 2004, at 1:43 AM, <[hidden email]> wrote:

> This is so cool. I have often thought of this same exact situation. I
> bet that at least 30% of the time, when a band sounds dead, there are
> actually hordes of radio amateurs listening and thinking to themselves,
> "Boy, the band is dead."

This is frequently the case on 10m, especially during the sunspot
decline. It is my opinion that in earlier cycles, when hams didn't
"know" better, that 10m and 15m openings were more likely to be
discovered just because people called CQ into a dead band.

Today, hams tune across 10m, and hearing nothing, head down to 20m.

> (This is one reason why contests are frequently surprising. It isn't
> that conditions are any better, but there are just many more people on
> the air, making it sound like it's really hot.)

There are always guys, who, for whatever reason, will do a contest from
a single band -- generating activity that wouldn't otherwise be
present.

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [hidden email]
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
             -- Wilbur Wright, 1901

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[Ron D'Eau Claire-2]

Don't forget the world-side beacons. Any time I find a band "dead" the first
thing I check out are the NCDXF beacons at 28,200 kHz, 24,950 kHz, 21,150
kHz, 18,110 kHz  and 14,100 kHz.

See http://tinyurl.com/2g9j5 for details.

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
On Jun 11, 2004, at 1:43 AM, <[hidden email]> wrote:

> This is so cool. I have often thought of this same exact situation. I
> bet that at least 30% of the time, when a band sounds dead, there are
> actually hordes of radio amateurs listening and thinking to
> themselves, "Boy, the band is dead."

This is frequently the case on 10m, especially during the sunspot
decline. It is my opinion that in earlier cycles, when hams didn't
"know" better, that 10m and 15m openings were more likely to be
discovered just because people called CQ into a dead band.

Today, hams tune across 10m, and hearing nothing, head down to 20m.
...

Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: [hidden email]


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