11 meter is very quiet?

[BC Coyote]

Ha! And I've had absolutely nothing today.

I heard you in there on 555 at one point ! Not super strong like the other day, but you made the trip up here along with a small army of Australians ! I was busy with my 19 year old son erecting a shed behind the shop and monitoring 555 through the open window........ the Q5N2 has no shortage of speaker audio that's for sure.

 

[ShadowDelaware]

I've had Texas like they are Delaware/NJ locals for the last year. Today was Texas(as everyday is), Ireland, Scotland and London. I go by UDX-122.

 

[Keto]

Lots of California, some Oregon and Washington here in MO, Saturday.

 

[unit_399]

Lots of California, some Oregon and Washington here in MO, Saturday.

Same thing here, KETO.

I've been doing late night skip for a week or two, and last night at 10 PM it was booming. California, Hawaii, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona ,New Mexico, etc. Every station I talked to was running 500W or more (I asked). Chans 36, 37, and 39. Above that, mostly foreign lanaguage speakers. I speak fluent Espanol, but other than that and English, everything else is gibberish to me. As an experiment, I turned my amp down to 150 PEP. Made call after call with no comebacks. Started cranking it up, and at around 400W stations started answering me. set it at 600 and everyone said my signal was solid. As I stated in another post, in today's FREEBAND REALITY, you have to run significant power on the regular 40 if you want to talk skip consistently. Anything 200W or less just won't punch through the mess.

BTW . . . KETO. Where are you located in Missouri ?? Do you have a WDX number ??
If not, what is your station ID ?? I'll give you some callouts whenever I'm on the air today..

- J.J. 399

 

[ShadowDelaware]

Same thing here, KETO.

I've been doing late night skip for a week or two, and last night at 10 PM it was booming. California, Hawaii, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona ,New Mexico, etc. Every station I talked to was running 500W or more (I asked). Chans 36, 37, and 39. Above that, mostly foreign lanaguage speakers. I speak fluent Espanol, but other than that and English, everything else is gibberish to me. As an experiment, I turned my amp down to 150 PEP. Made call after call with no comebacks. Started cranking it up, and at around 400W stations started answering me. set it at 600 and everyone said my signal was solid. As I stated in another post, in today's FREEBAND REALITY, you have to run significant power if you want to talk skip consistently. Anything 200W or less just won't punch through te mess.

BTW . . . KETO. Where are you located in Missouri ?? Do you have a WDX number ??
If not, what is your station ID ?? I'll give you some callouts whenever I'm on the air today..

- J.J. 399

I have to agree with the power statement. AM and SB if you are under 200 watts you are only making contact with frustration.

 

[BC Coyote]

Anything 200W or less just won't punch through the mess.

Sorry, but this is total BS. I talk all over the world regularly on 150 watts. I can pretty much talk to any station I can hear.
My secret ? I totally avoid the regular 40 and any other frequency with multiple stations all talking on top of one another. Then I don't need mega power and the QSO's are a lot longer and easier on the ears..........and I'm not trying to fish the conversation out of five other conversations all going on at once !

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Just made contact with @Brother DXer 226 West Texas, lots of big stations in the mix. I was finally able to get a word in edge wise and he came back. Great making contact, we will try it again later on. My ammo can portable George FCC with 203 might as well be QRP, but we will keep trying.

Happy Easter!

73 and 51

 

[Brother DXer]

Just made contact with @Brother DXer 226 West Texas, lots of big stations in the mix. I was finally able to get a word in edge wise and he came back. Great making contact, we will try it again later on. My ammo can portable George FCC with 203 might as well be QRP, but we will keep trying.

Happy Easter!

73 and 51

Thanks for the contact my friend! I could have done a much better job if I would have been on another rig with some W's coming your way. This morning I'm on the Stryker 955 with a new microphone thanks to @Eldorado828.
I'll be listening for you.
Happy Easter!

73's

 

[Rwb]

310 and few more in seattle.i was posted in their easter egg contest.ol 955 at 40 pep ,was told sound like local and they hit me same way.great dxin day
Dropped down to 26.9150.talked to 007 in hollywood cali n 2 others in same region loud n proud.

 

[unit_399]

BC Coyote -

You're the one that's talking BS. First you quote my post out of context in order to make your point. Yes you can DX with 150W on some obscure frequency and so can I. But you use these obscure freqs because you can't dx CONSITENTLY on the regular 40. Occasionally yes, consistently NO. Otherwise you wouldn't avoid them.
But what do you do when (like you posted the other day) " Conditions are a bit TOO good today........ Scanned from 27.360 to 27.800 in 5 KHz steps and there are
stations from all over the globe on EVERY single frequency. Often two or three deep. Not my idea of radio fun ! "

Times like that you're out of luck.

Also you criticize people people for being, "on the radio all the time. When do they sleep? When do they work? When do they eat?"

Yet then you say, "There are people I hear calling away when I get up in the morning, all day long every day, and they're still calling away as the skip fades away at night. 7 days a week, 365 days a year."

So, it seems you're on the radio all the time too. Kinda the pot calling the kettle black.

- 399

 

[ShadowDelaware]

BC Coyote -

You're the one that's talking BS. First you quote my post out of context in order to make your point. Yes you can DX with 150W on some obscure frequency and so can I. But you use these obscure freqs because you can't dx CONSITENTLY on the regular 40. Occasionally yes, consistently NO. Otherwise you wouldn't avoid them.
But what do you do when (like you posted the other day) " Conditions are a bit TOO good today........ Scanned from 27.360 to 27.800 in 5 KHz steps and there are
stations from all over the globe on EVERY single frequency. Often two or three deep. Not my idea of radio fun ! "

Times like that you're out of luck.

Also you criticize people people for being, "on the radio all the time. When do they sleep? When do they work? When do they eat?"

Yet then you say, "There are people I hear calling away when I get up in the morning, all day long every day, and they're still calling away as the skip fades away at night. 7 days a week, 365 days a year."

So, it seems you're on the radio all the time too. Kinda the pot calling the kettle black.

- 399

Speaking in terms of s units 150w and 200w is just about the same thing on the receiving end...you pretty much took the words out of my mouth in this response.

 

[Keto]

Same thing here, KETO.

I've been doing late night skip for a week or two, and last night at 10 PM it was booming. California, Hawaii, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona ,New Mexico, etc. Every station I talked to was running 500W or more (I asked). Chans 36, 37, and 39. Above that, mostly foreign lanaguage speakers. I speak fluent Espanol, but other than that and English, everything else is gibberish to me. As an experiment, I turned my amp down to 150 PEP. Made call after call with no comebacks. Started cranking it up, and at around 400W stations started answering me. set it at 600 and everyone said my signal was solid. As I stated in another post, in today's FREEBAND REALITY, you have to run significant power on the regular 40 if you want to talk skip consistently. Anything 200W or less just won't punch through the mess.

BTW . . . KETO. Where are you located in Missouri ?? Do you have a WDX number ??
If not, what is your station ID ?? I'll give you some callouts whenever I'm on the air today..

- J.J. 399

Hey 399
I'm in S.W. MO not far from Branson. Where are you?
No WDX # but have been using 417 and it's taken.

Man it's not very good condition a bit ago when I clicked it on. I put mine on 36LSB to monitor, but it's got noise more than talk right now.
A couple of amps I have are low drive and the Stryker 955 I'm using won't work with them.
That was a good experiment/test with your power to see what it take to ride the wave.

 

[Brother DXer]

Conditions aren't great but there's still some good dx to be had. I've been in the radio room most of the day working on a few things. I've been very passive with making contacts and still have over a page worth. From the NW to the NE and down to Florida. Also heard a few stations in Puerto Rico, but I couldn't make contact.
I'll just keep on with what I'm doing and see how this afternoon goes.

 

[AmericanEagle575]

Gave a shout out a couple times on .385 and .405 this afternoon, Conditions were kinda of quiet up here in Central Pennsylvania today,Spent time with Dad and had a great Easter lunch from Perkins at home since he still recovering from bronchitis, however he's slowly getting better, hope you all had a wonderful Easter today with your Family's!!

73's

 

[BC Coyote]

Feast or Famine up here. After yesterday's international train-wreck on the band, today was pretty tame by comparison ! Decent signals from around North America but almost nothing from overseas today.
Had one nice QSO with a local and that was it. What I call yo-yo conditions. One day they're up the next they're down.