So, I thought I’d try working a couple of the state QSO parties today (VT, MN, DE).
Since the only antenna I have up right now is a 30m dipole, I figured I could use my antenna tuner and load it up on 20m. I was able to do that just fine, but I couldn’t hear any of the QSO parties. The only contest I could hear was the First Class Operators Club contest. Since I’m not a member of that elite group, I didn’t try to join in.
As I said, I was able to tune the dipole to work on 20m just fine, and even though I got on after 6 pm EST, I was able to make three contacts. One thing that strikes me about 20m vs. 30m is the level of activity. 30m seems to shut down as soon as the band gets a little shakey. I guess what few ops there are pull the plug real quick, and the band gets quiet real fast.
On 20m, however, one can still hear stations even after 30m gets quiet. I guess since there are more operators, there are just more possibilities of making contacts, even though signals start getting weak.
I guess I should put that 20m ground plane antenna back up and operate 20m more. There’s a tree in the front yard that I could use to hang it up, and maybe if I add a third leg to the ground plane, it will work even better than it did before.
Ed/ke7feg says
Hi, just browsing the i-net and stumbled on your site from email link. Neat. I don’t own any icom and possibly will never, but still neat stuff.
Thanks,
ed/ke7feg