[TenTec] 20 m users' net

Rob Atkinson, K5UJ k5uj@hotmail.com
Mon, 04 Nov 2002 23:37:27 +0000


As I have told a few people privately, I really don't know if there's an 
official policy on 17 m. nets from any organization (ARRL & FCC). The guys I 
talked to told me they tried meeting on 17 and got yelled at by a bunch of 
stations who told them no nets allowed on 17.  I for one can handle being 
yelled at--hey it happened on 20 anyway--so maybe we should try it and see 
what happens.  A check of the arrl website did not reveal any no nets on 17 
policy.  Their online net directory lists the following on 17:

Net Name                   Frequency  Local Days  UTC Time Time Zone

Flying Boat Amateur Radio Society  18.155  Dy     1200-2300

HF pack, the HF Portable Group  18.1575     S      1630

OMISS Net                       18.14     S, Sn     1900

This would make it seem like a 17 meter net is okay and I stand corrected.  
Sorry for the confusion.  There were probably a few ops who were trying to 
save 17 for themselves since the phone portion isn't real big.


If you don't have a 17 m. antenna, try using a 15 m. one.  The swr may be 
about 3:1 but you can tune that down with a transmatch (238 is great) and as 
long as you are not operating with 1500 watts on a long run of skinny coax 
you should be okay.  I used a 3:1 antenna on 17 with about 90' of 8U, 600 
watts and a 238A in the shack and worked a lot of dx.  You'll be surprised 
at what you can do.  (I eventually got on the roof and adjusted my antenna 
down to 1.3:1 on 17 though.)

73,
Rob Atkinson
K5UJ

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