When I contact other stations on HF, I like to look them up on QRZ.Com. If they’ve added some info on themselves, it’s a good way to get to know the other ham better, and doing this has sparked some good conversations.
Today, I noticed that they’ve added some features to their map. Not only is the other op’s location pinpointed, but now the map tells you what grid square they’re in, how many hams are in that grid square, and you can check a box to show you where those other hams are, too. Very cool.
In my grid square, EN82ch, there are 28 hams:
I guess that’s on the low side. Of the five hams I worked today, my grid square had the second lowest number of hams. Lowest was EN46oh, the grid square of WA9FFV, who’s located in Northern Wisconsin, almost on Lake Superior. He’s the only ham in that grid square.
Of all the hams I worked today, K2GTC lives in the grid square with the highest number of hams. He lives in FN30as, which has 465 hams!
I know New York City is densely populated, but I’m still amazed that there are so many hams there. Where do they put up antennas?
At any rate, I found this fascinating. Thanks to QRZ.Com for doing this. Now, I really need to pay for a subscription to this fine service.
Julian, G4ILO says
That NYC map is amazing, says the man with a grid square all to himself!
Larry W2LJ says
66 Hams in my grid square FN20to. And of those 66, I personally know of about a half dozen or so who are actually active on a regular basis.
K2DSL - David says
You can find info similar to this if you go to http://www.vanityhq.com and click on the image on the left for N4MC’s Ham Locator.
In NYC (I’m in Northern NJ), there’s a higher percentage of VHF/UHF FM operators then HF operators. We have a couple of NYC ops check into a Northern NJ net we run. But there are small tribander beams on apartment roofs (used to past one every day in downtown SoHo) along with antennas like Buddipoles, Transworld, etc. I never looked to see if many in Manhattan are Techs or if they are General or Extras to see how many got their license primarily to stay on VHF/UHF and use the many wide coverage and linked repeaters in NYC. There’s always chatter on the NYC repeaters.