Welcome Forums Newcomer Help & Advice Ham Radio Frequency

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    • #1537
      kr236rk
      Participant

        Hi,

        What is the best frequency for hearing Ham Radio transmissions please?

        I have an SX-190 receiver.

        Thanks 🙂

      • #1538
        M0PWX
        Participant

          best place to start is the band plans published by the RSGB https://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/display/

          main bands are 80m, 40m, 30m (narrow band mainly digital modes) 20m, 17m, 15m and 10m

          80m band is 3.5Mhz – 3.8Mh
          40m band is 7.0Mhz – 7.2Mhz
          30m band is 10.1Mhz – 10.15Mhz
          20m band is 14.0Mhz – 14.35Mhz
          17m band is 18.068Mhz – 18.168Mhz
          15m band is 21.0Mhz – 21.45Mhz
          10m band is 28.0Mhz – 29.7Mhz

          the 60m band and 12m bands are little used so i haven’t included them here

          in general CW is near the bottom of the band, followed by digital mode, and then SSB the rest

          SSB below 10Mhz tends to be Lower sideband (LSB), 10mhz and above tends to be Upper sideband(USB)

          AM is rarely used on HF amateur bands,

          FM tends to be used on 10m and above

          daylight hours activity tends to be 40m and above,
          night time tends to be 40m and lower
          (all to do with the D, E and F layers of the atmosphere and how the change due to solar radiation) https://www.rfwireless-world.com/Terminology/Difference-between-Ionospheric-layers-D-E-F1-and-F2.html

          • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by M0PWX.
          • #1540
            kr236rk
            Participant

              Thank you.

              This is of great interest 🙂

              I will update when I have repositioned my SW Receiver, it is very awkward to access at the moment.

              Best regards!

            • #1541
              kr236rk
              Participant

                How does solar activity affect SW please – is it the sun spots?

                On my SW Receiver – I usually pick up interesting things on Band 7, at night, but am curious about the other bands, & when they are active.

                Can I post pictures of my receiver here please?

                Thanks 🙂

              • #1544
                kr236rk
                Participant

                  So, how do my Channel-Bands equate to your meter-bands please?

                  You posted:

                  80m band is 3.5Mhz – 3.8Mh
                  40m band is 7.0Mhz – 7.2Mhz
                  30m band is 10.1Mhz – 10.15Mhz
                  20m band is 14.0Mhz – 14.35Mhz
                  17m band is 18.068Mhz – 18.168Mhz
                  15m band is 21.0Mhz – 21.45Mhz
                  10m band is 28.0Mhz – 29.7Mhz

                  I have these bands on the SX-190:

                  3.5
                  5.7
                  7
                  9.5
                  11.5
                  14
                  15 (WWV)
                  17.5
                  27 (CB)

                  ————————————-

                  WWV is, I think, a government radio station located in Colorado, about 100 kilometers north of Denver.

                  CB is Citizens’ Band.

                  Channel/Band 7 gets me most activity after dark, I have not experimented much with daytime SW.

                  • #1545
                    M0PWX
                    Participant

                      from the manual the bands you have are

                      80 meter Band 3.5 to 4.0 MHz
                      49 meter Band 5.7 to 6.2 MHz
                      40 meter Band (HAM) 7.0 to 7.5 MHz
                      31 meter Band (WWV@ 10 MHz) 9.5 to 10.0 MHz
                      25 meter Band 11.5 to 12.0 MHz
                      20 meter Band (HAM) 14.0 to 14.5 MHz
                      19 meter Band (WWV@15 MHz) 15.0 to 15.5 MHz
                      16 meter Band 17.5 to 18.0 MHz
                      11 meter Band (CB) 27.0 to 27.5 MHz

                      so the 80m, 40m and 20m bands will cover the main HAM bands (80m / 40m most active at night, 40m / 20m most active during the day)

                      the WWV bands are for WWV time signal used mainly for calibration etc https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwv

                      the CB band is for US (possibly some EU) but i think also some EU countries have 11m available for hams as well

                      the 49m, 31m and 16m just miss the relevant ham bands

                      Peter

                      M0PWX

                • #1542
                  M0PWX
                  Participant

                    Yep, sunspots are good, but if the sun throws a bunch of stuff at us (whats known as a coronal mass ejection) in our direction depending on the speed and density of it if the CME hits our atmosphere it can lead to HF blackouts

                    if you look at spaceweather on twitter or the NOAA https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

                    • #1543
                      kr236rk
                      Participant

                        Cool

                        Like a solar storm / wind?

                        I am going through the information you kindly posted, comparing it to what I see in the SX-190 manual.

                        The NASA site keys-in with my initial enthusiasm for low frequency VLF radio – but it was a huge disappointment where I live in SW Britain, all I got was static, which was lightning strikes around the globe. I’d need to be in Scandinavia to hear sun effects, associated with the Northern Lights, I think.

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