HF Mobile Really Tough Lately?

[N9WDH]

I got an FT-857 with an ATAS-120 in November, and I enjoyed it a lot. I made a lot of contacts on 15, 17, 20, and 40 meters. I even modified the antenna with a bigger whip for 60 meters.

However, it has been a couple of months since I've made any contacts. I call CQ on 20 and 40 and get nothing. I also don't hear many stations. It seems like the bands are el-stinko.

Is this just a case of the sunspot blues? I can't put up any antennas at the apartment, so my mobile station is all I can muster. should I take out the 857 until conditions improve. I'd rather save the wear and tear on the radio and the antenna until conditions improve.

I work from 7 to 4 every day, so I'm guessing that the band conditions are best when I'm at work. I used to make a few contacts a week on my drive home in the evening, but haven't made any lately.

I'm kind of frustrated, actually.

Scott
N9WDH

[w8znx]

Scott

40/20 for the most part
have not been very good

muf has been low low low
add to that summer static
makes for poor conditons

mac

[kf6rdn]

Quote[/b] (N9WDH @ June 23 2006,09:02)]I got an FT-857 with an ATAS-120 in November, and I enjoyed it a lot. I made a lot of contacts on 15, 17, 20, and 40 meters. I even modified the antenna with a bigger whip for 60 meters.

However, it has been a couple of months since I've made any contacts. I call CQ on 20 and 40 and get nothing. I also don't hear many stations. It seems like the bands are el-stinko.

Is this just a case of the sunspot blues? I can't put up any antennas at the apartment, so my mobile station is all I can muster. should I take out the 857 until conditions improve. I'd rather save the wear and tear on the radio and the antenna until conditions improve.

I work from 7 to 4 every day, so I'm guessing that the band conditions are best when I'm at work. I used to make a few contacts a week on my drive home in the evening, but haven't made any lately.

I'm kind of frustrated, actually.

Scott
N9WDH
I've been there. I used to yak regularly on 17 and 20.

I have to pull the antenna to garage the car, and last few months I havent been bothering to put the antenna on. Every now and then I do, and every now and then make contacts.
If you are getting frustrated maybe forget the radio, use the stereo for a week or 2..

Then try again for a couple days, try CQ if no contacts try S&P.

good luck

[W5HTW]

Yeah, HF is pretty much dead. I think the MUF is down below 1.5 mhz!! And with Field Day tomorrow, it promises to be a 'busy' day of drinking coffee, playing cards, drinking more coffee, listening to QRN, drinking more coffee, and wishing that IF we have any non-ham visitors, we had something to show them besides the coffee pot

Ed

[N5KRC]

I agree. #I took my Little Tarheel II off the Expedition to give it a good cleaning two weeks ago and it hasn't made it back on the truck yet. #Recently I've found myself monitoring V/UHF more than HF anyway due to the current conditions.

In fact, I was thinking on the way in to work this morning that I could probably offload my 706MKIIG and Tarheel as a package, and scrape enough together for a nice beam for the home station.

Scott, N5KRC

[ad5td]

Got in the car today and almost EVERYTHING was dead! Made one or two on 40m. When 20 is dead, it's dead...

[KB3LIX]

I must live on a different planet from all the responders in this thread. I have been hearing, and working at least 2 DX stations every day for the last few weeks. Lots of domestic QSO's too, and several Special Event stations last weekend.

It may take some time to find, and more time to work them, but they are there.
I'm sure it's not like at a sunspot peak, when the bands must be loaded with signals, but the DX is there IF you want to work for it.

I have to think up a good name for this planet.

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (N9WDH @ June 23 2006,10:02)]I got an FT-857 with an ATAS-120 in November, and I enjoyed it a lot. I made a lot of contacts on 15, 17, 20, and 40 meters. I even modified the antenna with a bigger whip for 60 meters.

However, it has been a couple of months since I've made any contacts. I call CQ on 20 and 40 and get nothing. I also don't hear many stations. It seems like the bands are el-stinko.

Is this just a case of the sunspot blues? I can't put up any antennas at the apartment, so my mobile station is all I can muster. should I take out the 857 until conditions improve. I'd rather save the wear and tear on the radio and the antenna until conditions improve.

I work from 7 to 4 every day, so I'm guessing that the band conditions are best when I'm at work. I used to make a few contacts a week on my drive home in the evening, but haven't made any lately.

I'm kind of frustrated, actually.

Scott
N9WDH
Send all that useless gear to me. I'll keep it so you don't make yourself upset.

Be careful not to make the mistake of a fellow ham I know who decided that he would purchase an amplifier to "create conditions" which, of course, was not true. You got to hear them to work them http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[wa9cwx]

Got to admit also, here in the Midwest Black hole, conditions are not the BEST, but I sure do work DX,
Nothing spectacular, but no lack of contacts.

Have not been mobile HF in a couple weeks, but I have worked from home a number of mobile ops recently.

I don't know if you mean SSB, try the Midcars Freq. .258 or whatever it is.

But on CW, there seems to be a LOT of mobile activity.

[w8cbc]

CW mobile - not for the faint of heart. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif But that /M does seem to add about 20 dB to one's signal.

As for voice (my preferred mobile mode), it's not been all that great the last couple of months. In my favourite band, 17 metres, I've been calling into the void. Even when there's propagation nobody answers. It's not that I'm not getting out. When I answer someone else's call, they usually hear me just fine.

The only thing that keeps it interesting is 10-metre Es.
Though I do sneak through the 20-metre lidpiles on occasion.

Anyway. Mobile HF operation certainly was lots better in the winter.

[KA7RRA]

I worked a bunch of station on 40 meters last weekend all over oregon and Iworked someone who was on a ship off the cost of oregon heading to Port Angeles

[VE1IDX]

I must admit 20m has been a little poor lately with the lack of VK's and ZL's but I have worked a lot of stations even while mobile in the past several days.Lots of contacts into Russia and even OD5ET in Lebanon was worked while using 100 watts mobile.Definately not the best of conditions but certainly far from being dead.

[G0GQK]

Like someone said, when 20's dead its bad ! And, its going to get worse ! However, things will improve a little when September arrives.

Mel G0GQK

[WB2WIK]

20m has been peaking up much later in the day lately.

Over FD weekend (last couple of days), 20m was wide open with tremendously strong signals at 9-10-11 o'clock PM, local time. Much better, and stronger, than at 4:00 in the afternoon (local).

Last night (Sunday 6/25) was the same. At 4 or 5 PM local time, a bunch of S2-S3-S4-S5 etc signals occupied the band, nothing exciting. At 8:00 PM local time, the band was full of much stronger signals, from Europe to Australia.

My suggestion: When early afternoon signals are crappy and nothing's happening, try later -- sometimes, hours later.

WB2WIK/6

[w8cbc]

I've noticed that too. I get into Europe best in 20 metres after local nightfall. It's been working nicely over the night path.

I tend to run the highest band that's working. 17 metres sometimes opens up toward the south Pacific around local nightfall. I've heard a few VKs and ZLs in it around then. Grey-line?

As for FD, 20 was crammed full when I went down there from a weakening 15 metres Saturday evening. There were stations literally every kc. I actually managed to work two in succession in SSB only 600 cycles apart - the ear can indeed do a lot of extra filtering.