20 Meters Anyone

[K9ACT]

I have sort of given up on 40 meters because of lack of interest and weird propagation and 80 is nearly useless at night these days.

In the mean time, I dusted off my ricebox and amp and fired up on 20 meters and have had nothing but fun from morning till midnight.  East Coast, West Coast, no noise, no QRM, just armchair copy, but shame of all shames, USB.

Only othe problem is having to admit that I am using a ricebox instead of one of my homebrews.

Not sure where AMers hang out but it would be fun to see what can be done on 20.  I can use my rice box and amp to determine if it's worth the trouble to modify one my AM rigs for 20.

Any thoughts?  Any interest?

Jack K9ACT

[ve6pg]

..jack...i've not been around much, but i've herd guys saying they are having success on 20m AM, 14286..tim..

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I heard some weak carriers around there two weekends ago, Tim. Was listening on the 40m dipole since there's nothing in the air for 20m.

It's sorta like 80m AM, Jack: if nobody calls, nobody answers, and there's no activity. People think the only activity is what they can hear and forget (or never knew?) they could create their own. They want someone else to have it all warmed up and going for them to join in. Get that innovative looping CQ machine going on 14.286 and see what you can scare up. 40 was pretty crappy last Saturday, very wishy-washy overall, so you didn't miss much there.

[flintstone mop]

I guess there would be some pleasent surprises on that band. Don't expect big rountables. Maybe three max due to the skip characteristics of 20M and folks using beam ants.
20 goes to sleep around 9-10P.One day it will once again be a 24 hour DX band.
ONE DAY

Fred

[AF9J]

I've been considering 20 myself, for when the summertime 10m AM Sporadic E fun ends, and it's not quite quiet enough seasonally for 75 & 160m.  And frankly the 10m fun will probably be ending within the next few weeks.  Typically in August, 10m Es goes bye-bye.  6m Es calls it quits even sooner.  All I've heard on 20 AM is a few weak carriers.  I'd personally prefer to do AM lower down the band (say 14.180 or 14.190).  14.286 is up in the area of the band where it sometimes gets like a zoo.

73,
Ellen - AF9J
 

[K9ACT]

I Get that innovative looping CQ machine going on 14.286 and see what you can scare up.

Yes Sir!

2:PM 14.286 ran robot for 90 seconds.... hooked a 5ver with nice AM sig.  His first AM contact on 20 but band  changed and we lost contact.  No problem as it was nap time anyway.

3:PM 14.285 ran robot for 90 seconds.... hooked a 2 in NJ on USB with a Flex 5000 and he switched to AM
for his first ever AM contact.  He was 20 over and I was 10 over.  I had to apologize for not being able to listen to him on my S40B as my ricebox could not do justice to his audio.  I know AD and what Flexers sound like.

Great contact and I claim 20 points for crusading.

If this keeps up, I am going to convert my 811 rig to 20 meters.


Jack

[flintstone mop]

Yup Ellen you'll have the wrath of the radio gods for treading down in that part of 20M for AM activity. 20M isn't that friendly unless you're lucky.

Fred

[AF9J]

OK Guys,

That low on 20m is out (I thought mainly the area between 14.200 & 14.210 was the main hangout for DX).  My only concerns about 14.296, is that some of the goofballs hang out in that area.  As an example,everybody's favorite nut case Karol, VE7KFM is just 11kc down on 14.275.

Ellen - AF9J 

[WB2EMS]

I gave a listen last night on 14.286 and heard a couple of weak carriers and switched to AM and could hear a zero in there. Then Jack, K9ACT gave them a call and was *booming* in in central NY. S9+10 or better.

I heard you call a couple of times Jack and tried answering you but was running Tricycle Mobile QRP with an FT817 and a semi random wire whip on a 13 foot crappie pole and you didn't hear me. In the next week or so I should have the EFHW antenna on the bike and some more power from the IC-703. If nobody hears me in AM mode, I might have to work split mode (RX AM, TX USB) for a little more punch.

I tend to ride around dusk and listen on 20 meters or 75 meters, so look for a pipsqueak signal around then. 20 is usually still pretty good here around then. Here's a picture of me on my linear 2 wheeled bike with the setup. In the process of moving it on to a tadpole trike.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

2:PM 14.286 ran robot for 90 seconds.... hooked a 5ver with nice AM sig.  His first AM contact on 20 but band  changed and we lost contact.  No problem as it was nap time anyway.

3:PM 14.285 ran robot for 90 seconds.... hooked a 2 in NJ on USB with a Flex 5000 and he switched to AM
for his first ever AM contact.  He was 20 over and I was 10 over.  I had to apologize for not being able to listen to him on my S40B as my ricebox could not do justice to his audio.  I know AD and what Flexers sound like.

Great contact and I claim 20 points for crusading.

If this keeps up, I am going to convert my 811 rig to 20 meters.

Way to go Jack! IIRC, the last contact I made on 80 was in response to your robot, but copy was poor due to my flea powered rig. So it does work well. And no surprise, proves the point yet again that someone is usually listening, or waiting for someone else to start the fun. 

It has nowhere to go but up from here. 14.286 has been an AM calling frequency as long as I can remember, DX was down around .175 -.225 from my failing memory. Biggest issue I remember from 20 was the endless supply of nets with accompanying frequency ownership issues.