[GCARC] DXCC on 80 Meters

[Tony Starr]

Greetings All!

This is a follow-up to my DXCC discussion from the January meeting.  We had
been talking about the challenges of working 100 countries on 80 meters,
and the question came up regarding how 80m is doing these days as
propagation improves on the higher frequency HF bands.  Conventional
wisdom  would imply that the best time to work DX on 80 was 4 or 5 years
ago, but I wanted to let you know that the propagation is there right now.

Last night I was working the North American QSO Party, the object of which
is to work stations in North America of course, but I could not help but
notice that as I called CQ on 80 meters, at around 0300z ( about 10:00 EST
) that I was being spotted by a fair number of skimmers in Europe. In all,
over the course of an hour or so, over three dozen different skimmers in
various EU countries reported hearing my CQ on the Reverse Beacon Network,
with S/N as high as 20 dB, more than enough for an easy contact.  I was
using 100 watts to a low dipole, with the feed point at just over 40 feet
and the ends at less than 20, not an ideal height for DX on that band, but
workable nonetheless.  A vertical would open up far more possibilities
beyond the 4000 miles or so that my signal was coming down at.

So if you are looking to work DX on 80m, don't wait, get on there now.
Again, I would suggest CW or FT-8 rather than phone on this band, unless
you have lots of power and a big antenna.  Happy DX'ing, and I will see you
at the next meeting.

Tony K3TS
DX and Contest Committee Chairman