The Bands Are DEAD!!!!!! "Nobody Uses Ham Radio Anymore".......I Keep Hearing It Everyday!!!! 

I've only been on the air for about 3 years, and have NEVER found all the HF bands completely dead. Some bands are better at certain parts of the day, but there's always fun to be had somewhere. I've also found that the more I learn about antennas (I make my own), the more things open up as I build new ones. As far as 2 meters (FM) is concerned, it always seemed dead outside of the brief weekly nets. That is, until I randomly threw my call out one day, and there were people actually there! I don't get why people would have their 2m radios on all day and not use them, but it seems they do.

My hobby got destroyed, for years I've done very little radio, when I did it was 60m c.w. and 2m f.m. with a rare bit of c.w. and 10m lately. Broadband internet noise prevented me going on 160m to 20m for about seven years. It started on 30m in 2013 then spread to the other bands. Ofcom investigated and after three hours checking all telephone drop leads said it was my telephone wire which likely had corrosion and became unbalanced and radiating. B.T. said they would charge me to remove THEIR faulty line. I listened on January 13th and surprised to hear the 41m band quiet. I checked 40m and I could hear things, all bands were now quiet. I assume this is because of the changeover from copper wire to fibre. It's still quiet this morning. I have a renewed interest. I've got my hobby back. Don't knock QRP. QRP here up to 5 Watts with attic dipoles. Recently 10m at one Watt c.w. to Sicily, Italy and Bulgaria, 5 Watt ssb to southern Spain. On 17m ½ Watt c.w. to Poland at 850 miles where we both had a dipole, and Italy with 5 Watts. I wonder how much farther my signals were going? G4GHB.

The bands are booming today. Thanks for another great video !

Thanks so much for your IC 7300 scope/waterfall tutorial. Fell in love with my IC7300 all over again. Much appreciated!

"Quit using a tuner on a 96:1 SWR"... Yeah. You ain't gonna get out when your antenna is that compromised lol. I like this video.

I keep studying my apps and websites and keep getting experts over to my place. So far no luck but I'm sure it's some issue in my neighborhood we can't find just yet. Look forward to getting mine to be like yours!

I've only been into HF for about a month now. A friend loaned me an old Kenwood 570 D - and it got me hooked! But, I got SO many bad audio reports (might be something wrong with that radio)I decided to buy the Yaesu FT 710 AESS. I coupled that with a Vobroplex endfedz 130' long wire antenna strung out into the backyard. My second contact ever was Australia (I'm in the Reno area)! So, I'm loving this new setup. Some days my jaw gets tired from talking to ALL the contacts I make. There is NO truth to the rumor that "Nobody uses Ham Radio anymore". Actually, I never heard that one before. I just wonder what the hub bub about GMRS is about?

I just got back into Ham radio after a decade long break and found SDRs and FT8 and amazing software. It's never been better. I have in the last six weeks worked 29 states and 27 countries with nothing more than 17 watts being put into a 40 meter dipole up 20 feet using a window washing pole. SDR signals are pouring in courtesy of a $35 loop antenna.

I know this video is about HF but maybe those comments are directed towards VHF and UHF. Those bands certainly are dead compared to what they were 35 years ago. The glory days of analog FM repeaters are long gone. Considering the current world situation, many people simply aren't comfortable getting on the air and discussing their daily lives. Privacy is a major concern in today's world.

10w homebrew HF transceiver here and make plenty of contacts.

If you do not find any station in the bands...then it's due to QRM. The noise begin to be horrible in little cities too. But under the noise, there are stations and friends calling. Ever. Good work and good video! 73 folks!

Happy New Year my great friend

Where I'm at right now the 40 and 20 meter band is horrible. We had a lot of upper level disturbances.

I have found its much easier to complain about how the bands are than to actually check propagation.

god job from Danmark 73

Nothing makes the airwaves feel dead like programming a channel for a repeater into your radio with bad squelch tones too. I'm running into that a lot right now, getting started with HAM radio. :-/ A lot of the online repeater guides are out of date. Thank goodness some repeater operators set up automated station identification messages that include the access tones.

What does it mean when you say the Solar Cycle is in peak?

In my humble opinion....it does appear to be very friendly......Best to transmit as pirate...... more adventure then endless CQ CQ CQ..contest I would fall asleep

Interesting Delta Loop ... Looked to be vertically polarized.

Propagation conditions vary days by day and have been a challenge and your low watt peashooter ain’t gonna cut it.

It’s probably Florida and who told you they were dead anyway? Your not just after views are you?

QRP is where it's at.

Wonderful. 😀🥳😆

I work DX every day - the bands aren’t dead de VK5GG

Love it YZI !!

that florida not md

Yeah, totally sounds dead to me.😂

10m dead. Why ?

Listen everybody. You really need a 100 watt radio. These you tube guys get paid to promote these QRP radio's, that dont get out. Unless you are camping on top a high mountain, that 705 is a $1300 waste of money. Get a 100 watt radio.

How about you add time, time zone, date and solar figures in your video? And please don't forget that you are just addressing the US viewers. Conditions in other continents made not be the same, yes there are other countries in the world 😂 good dx