3855 AM QSO - Sat Morning

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

And not by much. I was on the phone witj Joe at that time, once we bailed he went down to his station to have a listen, I joined later after calling Jen. 22:30-22:45 timeframe.

Joe was on the Junkston 500, sounding great. Not sure what Dave was running from VA, DX-100 I think. Coming in great. You'd have been wall-to-wall, treetop tall, and whirlwide!

[flintstone mop]

I think some of the hassle time a fellow Ham might have changing freqs is moving the TX to another freq (possible tuning) and retuning the aerial/tuner for the new freq. For me, the extra care needed tuning a linear, there's about 10 minutes from my hour messing around just to call CQ.
I need a real push and motivation to wake up early and be on the Pre-sun rise QSO.
I'm gonna give it a real effort come hell or high water

Fred

[W3RSW]

Agree with KYV

Exeunt

[W2INR]

I can't believe my eyes. Radio operators complaining about tuning a rig or Antenna tuner to move ??!!

I tuned into a QSO this evening on 75 ("THE AM WINDOW"  ).

(attachment below)

I don't get it !

[W3RSW]

Gar.., I put the Ipod overlay sepia on that muzak but didn't come up with a title.

... but we did stay at the Holiday Inn last night on 3725.
INR, HUZ, 2GCR, 8BIL, 1VD, PJP, KAQ.. and other stellar glitterati, even "no op mois."

What was the line de noir?
"How do they spend one hour on 3885 complaining about having to spend 3 minutes retuning.  Suffer the poor fools on 85 when they could spend an unmolested 57 minutes in the vast oasis?"

Will try again tonight and hope for 'good luck in the contest.''. . .they're probably still on.

[W3RSW]

...and also AHE, 2XR, 2BK...  and George, 2XL sorry I missed you.  yeah, just a little pw 32V.
Rick

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

You know Steve,  that's a good idea.  In VHF/UHF weak signal, QRP, etc. freqs. like 3885 are used as calling freqs.  In other words, make the contact, and then QSY.  It's done all of the time on 144.2 MHz, for weak signal ragchews. 

73,
Ellen - AF9J

Ellen,
      I second that for 52.525 FM simplex, 50.125 USB, etc etc. Within a minute or two of establishing contact, there's usually someone (a calling frequency cop) requesting you move up or down the band. Not only on 6M, but also on 2M and 432.110, etc etc.

The problem is with HF, particularly 75M 'Fone, is most of the time there is nowhere within the band to QSY to. You'll find a QSO every 3KC or so in the General portion of the band(s). At 10:30AM that's a bit different. It seems that there IS a place to QSY to. The band isn't as populated as it is during the evening hours.

[The Slab Bacon]

The problem is with HF, particularly 75M 'Fone, is most of the time there is nowhere within the band to QSY to. You'll find a QSO every 3KC or so in the General portion of the band(s). At 10:30AM that's a bit different. It seems that there IS a place to QSY to. The band isn't as populated as it is during the evening hours.

There is a cure for that!! 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

There is plenty of "spaces" below 3800. Same goes for 160 meters.

[WBear2GCR]

People are gonna do what people do, and people are gonna operate where and how they want...

But, FYI, I've made a lot of contacts OFF the 3885 center frequency since my first post.

Some have been CQs, some not, and many have been with people on AM that I had not formerly spoken with or heard on AM. Both in the 3800+ area and in the ~3725 area!

Sometimes I have called CQ in an open area and gotten a response almost immediately.
Other times I've not.
Sometimes I've then gone up to the 3885 area and joined in there.
No big deal.

My current ant is coax fed (gasp!) and I do not have an SWR meter on it, I just QSY, dip the plate and talk. It seems to work for me.

I guess if you have ur tuna out in a doghouse, then you are stuck on a freq. Otherwise, maybe the way to go is to mark ur tuna for a few different spots on da band for fast QSY?? I dunno.

But, it's been fun to QSO elsewhere on the band.

Hope to hear you down freq on the 75M band!

                _-_-bear

                     

[W4EWH]

(hey where did the "cents" key go!!) 

         _-_-WBear2GCR

It's at ALT-155, or ALT-0162  on a PC.

On a non-pc, try U+00A2: in UTF-8 code that's 0xC2A2.

My 2¢.

Bill

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

... but we did stay at the Holiday Inn last night on 3725.
INR, HUZ, 2GCR, 8BIL, 1VD, PJP, KAQ.. and other stellar glitterati, even "no op mois."

Was good to work you again Rick, it's been awhile. Band condx were great when we started out early on, you arrived during the rude-corntester phase of the evening. Was interesting how the band seemed to weave to and fro, different areas coming in strong, then others, then back. Your pw 32V did just fine.

Along towards midnight the band got mushy, W2XR finally got back on the air after months of threatening, but the band was going long by that time. Steve was still strapping in when I lost track of who was still on and signed out. The corn didn't gain the frequency Friday night, at least.

The issue isn't so much where you operate, more a case of keeping your options open. The only real reason for not moving around is that you don't want to. Anything else is doable. Like G and others mentioned, many of us cut our AM teeth on 3885, and still go there when conditions permit. Enjoyed a good chat Saturday with a group on 3870, but it was during the afternoon before the crap started up. 'GFZ got the Viking II CDC on the air, he was booming in up here from Enfield.

And RandallBear: Yes, that National works FB OM. With only 3-4 clipleads on the ant connection, most of the guys close the magic tuning eye nicely. The thing is hot as a firecracker, and the shove/yank audio sounds fab. Needs a good cleaning and a few small issues addressed, but that's why God made winter. 

[k4kyv]

The problem is with HF, particularly 75M 'Fone, is most of the time there is nowhere within the band to QSY to. You'll find a QSO every 3KC or so in the General portion of the band(s).

It used to be that way, but lately I have been hearing many blank spots in the band even on low-noise weekend nights.  In fact, after about 11 PM  local time almost everyone has gone to bed, AM , slopbuckets and all.  On weeknights, the entire extra portion of the band often is lucky to have 2-3 slopbuckets and usually no AM at all.

I think the overall level of activity has dropped of substantially the last few years.  Dropping the code certainly didn't generate the hoped-for hoards of newcomers to HF.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Nice group on 3715 last night up until about 11 PM ET. Spoke with

W2INR
KA1KAQ
W3JN
KB3AHE
KD3CN
WD8BIL
AB3AL
W1IA
VA3DZ
W3PTH
K1JJ (just kidding)

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Nice group on 3715 last night up until about 11 PM ET. Spoke with

W2INR
KA1KAQ
W3JN
KB3AHE
KD3CN
WD8BIL
AB3AL
W1IA
VA3DZ
W3PTH
K1JJ (just kidding)

Was anyone on narcotics? Did anyone go bezerk?

[w5omr]

There is plenty of "spaces" below 3800. Same goes for 160 meters.

Uhm... isn't 160m 'below' 3800kc?

(duckin'!)

;-)

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Correction: They all ARE. No going involved. 

Got me Jeff.

Yes, they all were and did!

Mack

Nice group on 3715 last night up until about 11 PM ET. Spoke with

W2INR
KA1KAQ
W3JN
KB3AHE
KD3CN
WD8BIL
AB3AL
W1IA
VA3DZ
W3PTH
K1JJ (just kidding)

Was anyone on narcotics? Did anyone go bezerk?

[WD8BIL]

Yes Joe, Steve is correct.
Going crazy here is a 1 tank trip !!

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Yes Joe, Steve is correct.
Going crazy here is a 1 tank trip !!

Buddly,
         Then it sounds like a good time was had by all! I need to upgrade my ticket "lickety-split". I've been studying and taking practice tests so I can run some of my more pissweak oldbuzzardly gear on 80M, and actually be heard by someone.

As Frank, KB3AHE says: "Running a Pissweak transmitter on the 75M AM window during prime time, is like taking a Bowie knife to a gunfight" - Truer words haven't been spoken!

[The Slab Bacon]

Yes Joe, Steve is correct.
Going crazy here is a 1 tank trip !!

Buddly,
         Then it sounds like a good time was had by all! I need to upgrade my ticket "lickety-split". I've been studying and taking practice tests so I can run some of my more pissweak oldbuzzardly gear on 80M, and actually be heard by someone.

As Frank, KB3AHE says: "Running a Pissweak transmitter on the 75M AM window during prime time, is like taking a Bowie knife to a gunfight" - Truer words haven't been spoken!

"Dont say nothin, just do it!!"