Skip was crazy here last night right across the board every channel on lower side band was in use or flooded from am amp bleed. I managed to get out on the lower 30's twice down to Virginia Beach a nice skip from my local near Ottawa Ontario.
Yes I got out a few times, I called on many channels, including 16, 38 was bogged for sure, had luck above and below. I was getting tons of amp bleed on many channels from the am channels, but last 2 days have been really crazy. I am not sure my more people don't spread out on the band more. I think us low watt people need to move out a bit and call to the low power signals. I tend to do that a lot, call to the low signals that I think are running stock like myself . That is what interests me.Great idea on CH16 LSB. In fact during the pile up this afternoon on 38 I was thinking the very same thing... lets try to spread out a bit and use other channels. I run barefoot to an A99 and with a little effort I was able to talk to a few stations in KY and 33 in IL though it really was just a swap of callsigns QRM and other stations were making it hard to have any sort of meaningful conversation.
Good points for sure. I did find yesterday people were moving out some. It would be better if people would move off the call channels , my best contact a few days ago (wisconsin 123) we rolled off to 36, and talked for a few mins stock to stock, and never did lose contact. It all depends on your goals as well I guess. Many just want to hit as many as they can, just say hello. My interest is in other stockers, and in getting in an exchange get a good log of info , their personal etc. So then I can look for them on the next skip.xm49north7 may have started something good here.
From the comments folks have posted, I'm thinking those on this thread and on WWDX should just make it a point over the upcoming Memorial Day week-end to try to shoot some skip on LSB 16. If our reclamation project is successful, it'll take some of the load off of LSB 38.
A related suggestion: operators who have established a contact should QSY to another frequency once contact has been confirmed. In other words, use LSB 16 as a hailing frequency and then switch to another frequency with your contact so you don't bog down the channel. In the old days, it was common practice to QSY over to USB or LSB 17 or 18 once you established contact on LSB 16.
WDX 404 in the Florida Keys, with my barefoot, untouched Uniden PC 122 and my thirty-five (35) year old 1/2 wave Radio Shack Crossbow (a Shakespeare Big Stick dyed in sky blue) will be there.
Great ideas guys ,well, pass around 16 that sounds like it would work for everyone, I will call it every time I have skip conditions for sure. Pass the word. I run a full wave vertical quad loop antenna which I really, really like. I have had a moxon, a jpole, and some dipoles, and a 5/8, no beams so far, but the loop has been the best of this lot for me, a beam would be a gainer for sure and maybe in my future. May do a v beam, texas tornado some time, love that old design, I would just line her up south and leave her put for skippin. That tornado is an old wire gain antenna 300 feet of wire on each side of a v, for 10 db gain. Its on the bucket list.
The skip was really good down here in the lower Florida Keys this past week-end, which was our Memorial Day week-end in the U.S.
I pulled out my old Shakespeare 176-1 marine "Big Stick" and mounted it on my 19' open fisherman. My radio was a Cherokee AH100 SSB walkie talkie. I dropped anchor off 3 different islands - a different one each day - and sent my 7 watt signal into the heavens (gave the skip my best efforts).
I made a ton of contacts on LSB 38. Typically, we'd then QSY to LSB 36 or LSB 37 so as not to tie up the main channel. On several occasions, efforts were made to get some contact on LSB 16, but those resulted in ZERO responses. Heck, I didn't hear a single station on LSB 16.
The LSB 30 idea completely slipped my mind. I did hear one QSO on there yesterday (5/27) but just the one. Is LSB 30 gaining some serious traction as an SSB hailing frequency?