[Elecraft] 30 meter net

[Brendan Minish]

At 11:24 17/05/2003 -0500, Jerry, wa2dkg wrote:
>Is a band that is dead most of the time a good place for a net?...After
>all the object of a net is communication...


30m IS NOT dead most of the time! in fact it is pretty much always open and 
has some of the best characteristics of 40 and 20 m combined.
Local / regional propagation all day (with some DX, thrown in)
The band goes long at night but very rarely actually closes. Watch out for 
some really nice propagation around Grey line time.

One of the reasons people think 30 is dead is that it sounds dead if you 
use an antenna the does not work properly on 30m (such as the G5RV or a 20m 
beam.. which are both terribly inefficient on 30m )
Try a dipole or better yet a 1/2 Square (Fits in the same space as a 
dipole) for 30m and enjoy the dx.

I have worked 139 DXCC entities on 30m CW in the last couple of years with 
100w from my K2.
30m is a CW only band here In Ireland. I have more DXCC entities worked on 
30m than any other single band.

Please remember to give way to the commercial stations as they are the 
primary users of this wonderful band.

Some information on the 1/2 Square which is a great, simple DX antenna for 
30m can be found here
http://www.cebik.com/scv4.html

the corner fed version works a treat when fed via a choke balun

the rest of the Cebik site is a gold mine of antenna information too
http://www.cebik.com/

73
Brendan EI6IZ