For information of those of you who are intending to participate in NAQP
SSB Saturday, I wanted to address the matter of frequency usage. On the
higher bands, 40 to 10M, there are no particular rules or customs,
except that you might want to check 10 meters at the top of each hour
and 15 meters on the half hour. On 10M, if there are openings, 28450
might be a good place to start looking. At this point in the cycle,
even if we were to get a good opening, most of the activity will be
between 28390 and 28515. Of course, by going above 28500 kHz, you would
lose any opportunity to work any Technicians who might be on the band.
It would be a good courtesy to keep the frequencies around 28495 kHz
clear for DXers just in case the band might be open for DXing. On 15M,
the main action seems to be between 21250 and 21350 during this part of
the cycle. Remember that the General class band starts at 21275, so the
pool of available responses to CQs might be better above 21275.
On 20M, the General band starts at 14225. A frequency above that will
likewise result in a greater pool of possible QSOs. There will be a
good deal of activity below 14225 probably down for about 50 kHz.
Remember to respect the DXers if there are any. They might be most
expected around 1417t5 to 14200.
On 40M, the general band starts at 7175. There will be activity from
7125 to 7300, excluding certain net frequencies. You may raise the ire
of AM operators if you operate on SSB around 7290, so be prepared to
move if requested or QRMmed.
On 80M, the AM calling frequency is somewhere around 3880, so you will
probably not be able to run effectively if someone is "guarding" that
area. I don't find a lot of activity above 3900, but it is possible for
another 30 kHz or so up from 3900. Most of the activity seems to be
between 3870 and 3800. This is pretty small for as much activity as
NAQP usually brings. There are a number of frequencies that you cannot
use because of loud groups of ragchewers and they will quickly let you
know to QSY. There always seems to be a very loud Spanish language QSO
on 3805. Don't call CQ in the "DX Window" between 3790 and 3800. Below
3790, I hope there will be considerable activity. In ARRL SS SSB, there
was activity all the way down almost to 3605 kHz. In NAQP, I'd expect
some activity down to 3700 perhaps.
On 160M, do not CQ below 1843 kHz. This is out of courtesy to CW ops,
who will still be out in force on Saturday night. I tend to respond to
CQs all the way down the band as I am afraid I will miss out on those
stations if I wait for them to QSY up. You will find activity up
perhaps as high as 1900. Again, this is a pretty small segment of
frequencies and we can hope that activity will spread above 1900 up to
perhaps 1930 kHz. Somewhere around 1850 to 1865 kHz there is usually a
frequency with loud AM stations and I'd avoid them.
Remember, you cannot legally transmit SSB within 3 kHz of the band limit
on the SSB you are using. So, do not go below 1803, 3603, 7228 or above
14347 (there will be stations higher) or 21447 kHz.
Single ops are permitted 10 hours maximum of operation. Off times,
except at the beginning and end, must be 30 minutes or more in length.
That means if you make your last QSO at 2000Z, don't make the next QSO
sooner than 2031Z. Give it a full 30 minutes, not 29, or you might not
get that time off credited. Remember that multipliers count per band,
so when you are working a friend or if a multiplier that you need on
another band calls you, try moving that multiplier to the other bands
that you feel will be likely to have propagation to that area.
If CW conditions are any indication, and if you have good low band
antennas, you should consider taking your off times in the afternoon and
saving your time to operate on the low bands. Since I don't have a good
160M antenna, I may not take that advice. If you just can't do anything
to speak of on the high bands in the early afternoon, give 40M a try.
But, don't forget to check back on 20 and 15M, since you won't get many
mults on those bands after nightfall. Keep checking backon the higher
bands, however, as there will be a chance for an Es opening even after dark.
Another factor to consider will be the weather. The last weather
forecast I saw for this area was rain all day Saturday with an expection
of 90% chance of rain and possibly two inches to fall. I saw no
thunderstorms mentioned, but rain often brings QRN and rain static if no
electrical crashes. On the other hand, we can hope that a good soaking
rain will reduce power line noise, which was very bad at my house last
weekend.
Good luck and fun to all. Please post your results to the 3830
Reflector or to the SECC reflector promptly so we can get a summary by
Tuesday night. I hope I can work you all on some band.
73, John, K4BAI.
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