best AM channel for skip?

[dave457]

26.915

 

[midnight special]

space cowboy, i meant those are the freqs i hang out at ,,, i just didnt get the wording right i guess to get out what i was saying,,,

 

[Stellasstillarat]

I believe he works to Slim Whitman

Slim whitman's cool! He saved the world when Mars attacked.

 

[NeoHam]

I used to think that too, but a friend at NASA informed me that they can - and at times do - calculate specific optimal radio frequencies based on the atmospheric and solar conditions at a precise window in time. It is kind of as if they take the solar indexes we hobbyists use and go to extremes. Communicating over hundreds of millions of miles with less than 1 watt probably requires that they have to.

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html
http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA&mycall=&myloc=&freq=&prop=
http://aprs.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/map
http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I used to think that too, but a friend at NASA informed me that they can - and at times do - calculate specific optimal radio frequencies based on the atmospheric and solar conditions at a precise window in time. It is kind of as if they take the solar indexes we hobbyists use and go to extremes. Communicating over hundreds of millions of miles with less than 1 watt probably requires that they have to.

Not really. NASA uses UHF (Ultra High Frequencies) or even SHF frequencies (Super high Frequencies) and those frequencies are not affected by the solar cycle or propagation like HF frequencies are. Regular HF communications will not penetrate the ionosphere because they are ......wait for it...............reflected back to earth as skip.

 

[Rick330man]

Not really. NASA uses UHF (Ultra High Frequencies) or even SHF frequencies (Super high Frequencies) and those frequencies are not affected by the solar cycle or propagation like HF frequencies are. Regular HF communications will not penetrate the ionosphere because they are ......wait for it...............reflected back to earth as skip.

No doubt correct for S-band, X band, etc., but I'm told they at times have operated as far down as 20 MHZ. I'm going to check, but I think some of the early Soviet manned space missions were carrying on their communications around 20MHZ also.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

No doubt correct for S-band, X band, etc., but I'm told they at times have operated as far down as 20 MHZ. I'm going to check, but I think some of the early Soviet manned space missions were carrying on their communications around 20MHZ also.

Actually NASA has used HF for some stuff especially testing the atmosphere but I was referencing your statement about communicating millions of miles thru space. Those comms are done on UHF and SHF for sure.

 

[Oatmeal]

I always like channel 28, because thats where all my dx friends hang out at..
And of course my locals likes to try talking local when dx rolls, that was always interesting, because the dx covered the locals up when it rolls out of the west, lol...

 

[Rick330man]

So, Jason: did you get the information you were looking for?

I'm in the lower Florida Keys. There is almost no local traffic down here. We get the occasional tourists or truckers on 19, but not much else locally. When the skip is rolling, the water all around us really helps.

Short of channel 6 and the related splatter, I'm not aware of an AM channel within the designated 40 that is used primarily as a hailing frequency for skip. On SSB, 38LSB is king. Some groups are using 39LSB.

Let us know if you find something else.

 

[jessejamesdallas]

WOW...wasn't aware there was other channels besides channel 28!

 

[vkrules]

Am has gone the way of the Dodo here. Had to drop a box of AM sets in the bin, couldn't even give them away.Very surprised to hear am still in use in the states.

 

[wavrider]

AM is still popular here, especially with the power crowd persay.

Rag chewing here in N Florida on AM is an every night thing.

Few SSB around to rag chew with, those that are tend to drift higher in freq than the normal 40.

 

[DuckSoupe]

for dx operators whenever there is dx present, then yes, 38 lsb is the channel to go to. for an operator with just 12 watts, it can get frustrating.
my best dx contacts in-band with 12 watts are usually on the other ssb channels over 34.

you can shoot AM skip national and international, and have fun doing it, but there isn't a set AM DX channel for it.

I like 38 Lsb. I run a horizontal v dipole with a balun

 

[DJboutit]

I also like 28 with 26 you get a few of the big dawgs from 6 & 11 from time to time

 

[space cowboy]

No doubt correct for S-band, X band, etc., but I'm told they at times have operated as far down as 20 MHZ. I'm going to check, but I think some of the early Soviet manned space missions were carrying on their communications around 20MHZ also.

you remember correctly. sputnik was 20 Mhz at least.