The band is dead and there are no contacts to be made...

Foundations of Amateur Radio

There is a curious phenomenon related to how we operate that is pervasive within our community. As an inexperienced ham, I would turn on my radio and tune around and hear nothing. I'd change bands and do it again. Over time I'd work my way through the bands I'm allowed on and find no activity.

On rare occasions I'd venture into the wide unknown and see what other bands were doing, ones where I wasn't allowed to transmit due to my license restrictions, and find lots of people talking to each other, making noise and having fun. More often than not, this band of feverish activity was 20m.

For a long time I ascribed magical properties to this 20m band. There was always propagation, people were always there and it seemed that if you wanted to make contacts, that was the place to be.

Over time I participated in contests with other amateurs, operating a club station and finding myself on 20m making contacts. I began to believe that 20m was this amazing place where stuff was always happening. This seemed to be reinforced by other amateurs who would use as their sole reason for gaining extra responsibilities, access to the 20m band.

Now before you start, 20m is special. It has some interesting properties which make contacts appear and vanish at short notice. Just like other bands with their different peculiarities, practice makes perfect.

But, 20m isn't that special. It's not a band that is always open, or always closed, just like 15m isn't, nor is 10m, neither is 6m, 80m, or 160m or whatever band you prefer to operate on. No band is always open and no band is always closed.

Guess how I know this?

Whenever there is a contest, activity blooms all over the place, the bands are full of stations, making contacts, having fun and annoying those stations who hate contesters with vehemence, so, clearly there is something else going on.

There is.

It's you, and me, and everyone else. We're all listening. While listening is good, you also need people to talk, otherwise there is nothing to listen to. There are automated stations around using beacons and WSPR modes and all manner of cute software to determine if their station is being heard. And if you look at the maps, they clearly are being heard.

So, as I've said before, go on air and make some noise.

If you want to make contacts, you need to make noise. Your friends need to make noise. You need to setup regular contacts with friends somewhere on the planet and actually use the bands.

Yes, having access to 20m is fun, but lamenting that is frankly a waste of time. Whatever band you're on, whatever you're doing, you need to make noise.

Yes, of course there are variations in propagation throughout the day and the solar cycle affects how far and wide you'll be heard, and sun spots and solar flares affect the ionosphere as well, but it's not the only variable.

Just because no-one is heard, doesn't mean that no-one is there.

So, repeating myself, go on air and make some noise.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB