Aug 6, 0001Z to Aug 7 2359Z Rules: http://www.ten-ten.org/index.php/activity/2013-07-22-20-26-48/qso-party-rules. Make 10 come alive!
hoping conditions turn around here in las vegas. the last several events were busted. why do I keep trying this. will once again be at 8k ft pointing east near the calling frequency. will be horizontal and vertical in the mobile. 73 all
Just been hearing NK4T on 28.403 to low for me to work but the path is there across the pond ( just )
I made one contact with Hawaii yesterday which was really cool. I've never played on 10m before. I'm going to try again here in a bit. How good is this competition when conditions are more favorable?
Howdy, RM, 10 meters is a great band, but finicky. As the saying goes, you can work with world with 10 watts and a wet noodle for an antenna when the band is open. Openings are getting better as the sunspot cycle improves, for sure. I made 3 contacts in the contest around 10-11PM from near San Antonio: 2 in Colorado, one in Illinois, The QRZ propagation tool said conditions on 10 would be “poor,” so you can’t always go based on that. One reason it’s popular is that a mobile antenna for the band is not very tall, relatively speaking, and there were great little radios made by Radio Shack that were very affordable. 10m was my first DX band back in 2003, it was great. It’s really dependent on the sunspot cycle though, so you’re getting into it at the right time. Check out the 10m group on Facebook for people posting band openings, etc. Welcome! Jeff, KF5KWO near San Antonio, TX
In the late 70s and early 80s there were times when 10 meters was open worldwide day and night. Solar Cycle 21 was a barn burner. As @KF5KWO said, when the band is open you can easily work the world on 10 watts. This is true. With the upper HF band, it's always good to tune across and listen for the beacons operating 28.1 & 28.3 MHz. Don't rely on the propagation tools which might indicate "poor", when in fact the band is open. Here's an older article about the beacons: https://swling.com/blog/tag/10-meter-beacons/ In addition to listening for the beacons, the 11 meter activity is a good indicator of band conditions. The image below is an SDR screenshot I took of a band opening in 2021. 10 meters was open, but look at the activity... (11m on the left, 10m on the right)
And just to reiterate what @N5AF said: The propagation are an indicator of conditions, but definitely don’t use them to make the decision, “Band is dead, I’ll go do something else.” With 10 meters especially, plenty of us “wait” for the band to be active by sitting on 28.400 or something, or tune up and down, and don’t hear anything, and then we say, “I don’t hear anything, the band must be dead.” But we’re all just listening, not calling CQ, right? On 10, we’ve got to definitely call CQ on 28.400 phone, or go down to 28.120 and call CQ on PSK-31 or some other digital mode. On 10, you never know till you call!
@KF5KWO @N5AF Thank you guys! I was guilty of not making time to get back on during that contest (after I made contact with Hawaii station). I won't do that next time! Thank you for the info again. Very helpful. Can't catch a fish unless you got a lure in the water. Waiting to hear other stations would be like waiting on the shore until you see someone else bring a fish in.
