This is really useful as someone who has passed his foundation licence but does not as yet have a radio. Gives me some ideas of what bands I might like.
Really like the tour! My first antenna (once I get my HF rig) will be 40m. Already got the parts for it. Lately, I've thought it might be cool to just go ahead and do a super nvis gain dipole mounted 7' off the ground w/ reflectors underneath specifically for this band. Appreciate the walk through. On to your 20m vid!
40m is probably the best reason for me to upgrade from general class to extra here in the US. I can't broadcast voice below 7.175Mhz, which is mainly where broadcasters are at night, and during the day I usually go to the higher bands(mainly 20m) if I'm operating.
+smallenginedude71 Yeah quite a few countries just make it simple with 2 or even just one set of classes where the US has 3 current classes (Technician, General, and Amateur Extra) + grandfathered Novice and Advanced classes. Advanced is in between General and Extra and I see a ton of old timers who know more than a lot of Extra's simply because you get all of 40meters on Advanced (the former director of the FCC Spectrum Enforcement division is only an Advanced!). In a way the jump from General to Extra is both small and big, because of the callsign advantages of classes many just go for Extra to have a short callsign since Tech's and General's have to have 2x3's, 1x3's, or 2x2's (2x2 for General only)....In the states you can test for all three classes in one sitting and many do it. I'm a technician and I plan on doing General and Extra in one sitting because General's get a lot of HF but they loose out on 40meters and 80 meters which IMO is pretty significant, WARC frequencies make a good alternative during the day though since General's have full access to 12, 17, and 30...although 30 is digital only....I wish they would throw in a small section of LSB on 30meters....its got a great balance of properties.
There is a mode called, "MCW," machine Morse Code. It does that. But there is also software for your computer that does it. However, I have only read this. I have no license to use the HF frequencies and have no experience with amateur radio HF bands.
PL-660 is too cheap. It does not have a BFO can therefore cannot receive SSB NOR CW. THere is a DEGEN radio out there for a bout USD 67-70 which can receive SSB. That is the cheapest decent communications receiver you can buy. It might seem strange to tune though a whole band when there are hundreds of SSB communications going on but if you want to know why you need to read some radio theory . The DEGEN has an AM mode too. Up to you to find the correct model number. I have one but it is packed away. There are one or two Grundig SW radios that can Rx SSB too. suggest you do some google queries.
Interesting to hear and see how the amateur bands look from a different part of the world. Although you said that the propagation distance varies depending on the time of day, you didn't actually say what time of day it was when you made the video - I guess it was the daylight hours because they mostly sound like N. American stations. Here in the UK we can only transmit on the segment from 7.000 to 7.200. Thanks for the video, 73 Hugh M0WYE
Hi Gilles! I came across this video and am wondering if your frequencies in khz (7.000.00) would be the same for me using my pl-660 in mhz? Thank you for your time and I am still learning.
Thanks for sharing this. I wonder what the favored meter was before everyone had a landline? Back in the cowboy days and in old Western movies you always see someone sent downtown to get an urgent telegram sent. They may have been using landline to do a lot of that telegram messaging though.
Amazing no matter what freq you find people on or where they're from they are all talking about the same stuff. Either the weather or how their radios are setup. That's it.
Thanks for a well presented video. Although I've been inactive for many years on hf bands (divorce, antenna restrictions, etc.) I still enjoy limited 2M with an h/t and lots of SWL. Presently have the Eton 750 which is a super nice table top receiver and also it's little brother .. the Eton Executive portable. I especially enjoyed HOW you presented your video and careful attention to the 40M band's "personality" lol. Thanks again for taking the time for this. I just subscribed to your channel and look forward to many more videos. 73, Don wb1o Saugus MA, just north of Boston
If anyone can chime in on my question, that'd be great. I recently got my Tech, so I'm new and I'm studying for my General. How many simultaneous users could 40 and 80 meter accommodate? If these bands were "channelized" how many channels could it hold, and are there ctcss/dcs tones? It just seems like with the long range capabilities these bands have, couldn't they get overloaded really easily? The reason I'm asking this, is my intention is to get an emergency preparedness capability setup for communications in my region w/ friends or family and plan to try for an NVIS setup, and I'm trying to explore the feasibility. Thanks in advance!
Channelizing would be impossible, as most ham bands are VFO tuning. Also you mentioned ctcss/dcs tones which also is impossible unless using FM. I got my Novice ticket back in the early 70's and was also drawn to 40M for the reasons mentioned by the poster. I became an avid cw op and had a weekly sked with a ham/friend of mine. After gaining some experience with the quirks of 40M, and especially the Russians who pumped many watts (lol), I got pretty good at riding the edge of their a.m. carrier. Lots of good times on that band and it's still my fav band to listen to. So, in closing I'd say that, rather than trying to compete or modify things, just learn a few tricks of the trade and have fun like I did. I wish you the very best and good luck on your license upgrades. I got my Extra in the late 70's and it's been a blast ever since. 73 & happy dx'ing! Don wb1o, Saugus MA (just north of Boston)