Not sure from your description if it was some type of OTHR (Over The Horizon Radar) widely used on 30m from places including Cyprus, Australia, China, Russia, or a wide band data transmission. If it is not from an amateur station then all sorts of strong wide band data ARE allowed on 30m from the Primary users of the band: Fixed Service. An example of this is DDK9 which is continuous but there are many others that come and go.
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Nice one John.
The only thing I have on 30M at the moment is a FTDX10 and that has a "minimum" of 5W unless I put an attenuator inline. Hopefully be QRV on a new QMX+ soon so may try lower power myself now (had great fun with 2W on a Rooster albeit not on 30M ).
73 Simon G0FOZ
Late posting of this (sorry) - a little confusion on my behalf as the FISTS website states September and the inclusive dates are 25-30August :-)
https://www.fists.co.uk/activitiescalendar.html#fistsac30m2024
Managed to log Hungary, Romania, France (Paralympics SES), North Macedonia and Poland during the period and had RBN spots in the USA but nothing was logged outside of Europe.
It is a very underutilised band at times although you can always depend on a handful of QSOs when there is a contest on the non-WARC bands :-)
73 Simon G0FOZ
Just managed to keep the discipline and since August 3rd have only used 1 watt on the 30m band. (K2 and bent 90' doublet). About 20+ QSO's all told and much what you would expect with OZ/DL/ON/EA/HB9/PA/PA/OE/OK/SM/F all worked and thanked for their patience although the honest RST's were quite encouraging.
Used Maasbree at times to check if the signal was getting out OK. Responding to calls was more successful than calling CQ and early to late evening seemed the best time. Not a huge amount of time devoted to this but just an interesting challenge putting the band to work for me!
Anyway that's it for a while and will be pushing 5 watts come September….
See you on 30m
best
John M6KET
Really surprised to hear (just!) VK2GR on 30m (10.120) last night around 21.55 BST. he was working John EI7BA in Cork who was 579 here. VK2GR was 229 and in the noise really but just decipherable. Did call but the 5 watts wasn't really going to make it .. good to hear the DX though. K2.. bent doublet and 5 watts
Hi John,
Indeed, there was some very strong auroral warble on 80m during the intense aurora event the other month and i confused the heck out of stations sending "A" after the report :-)
73 Simon G0FOZ
Hey Si,
I worked an OZ station on 2 meters CW during the recent Auroral openings and he gave me a 59A report. I'm ashamed to say that I had no idea what that meant.
RSTN sounds like a great idea and I'll make a note of the suffix's you listed. Very handy to know.
73, John EI5JS #39
It seems more popular than ever and that can only be a good thing for 30 Meters. I think CW will outlive most of us though and that's the important thing :D
73, John EI5JS #39
Summer 2024 now and 30 meters seems really alive. I've cut my inv.V back to resonate on 10.115MHz again and I hope to spend (at least) the next while QRV on 30M. I'll watch out for your callsign Will,
73 de John, EI5JS #39
I'm happy running 40W to be honest, on any band. If i'm having trouble being heard I can bump it up to 70 or 80W and I've never felt the need to run 100W CW. You're right though, the lower limits make for a quieter and more 'level pegging' band. Basically, if you can hear it, you can work it.
Max power on 30M here in EI is 26dBW, 400W PEP
John, EI5JS #39
Yes thanks for the QSO Will ,, have been experimenting with QRPP this past month and got some surprisingly good results with very low power.. down to 0.1 watt for my QSO with DL0TUH and a 0.5 watt QSO's with HA2PP.
best wishes
John M6KET
Hi John, was good to catch you this morning on 30m running 5 watts. I have been experimenting with the lower bands and proved that 30m is my most useful band. Was glad to match your 5 watts after initially running 100w.
Will de mi0wwb
Well done Will - great achievement.
I had a lot of fun with 0.1 watt on 30m through January (Wythall Radio Club QRP month) and outside of Europe did work V31XX (Belize) and possibly C6AAE (Bahamas) on 5 watts, I say possibly because EC6AAE is also active but I did listen very carefully!
I hear far more activity on the Dutch SDR station at Maasbree on 30m than I do here!
I keep listening.. calling ..and persevering…..
in discussion Community / 30m Propagation » Propagation to VKland
On 12 November last I worked VK2BJ on 10.11380 and managed to log a QSO. With weak signals you're never really sure your contact was successful. But pleased to say that it's been confirmed via LoTW. A happy operator!
Will de mi0wwb
Thanks to Max at Club station DL0TUH for my 0.1 watt QSO today on 10.123.
The QRPP quest continues for another week then back to QRO 5 watts!!
best
John M6KET
QRPP month at Wythall Radio Club continues!
Thanks to Zoltan HA2PP for decoding my half- a- watt CW just now on 10.113
R329 S559 and a very patient operator!
Also 1 watt QSO' have been quite productive over the last week.
John M6KET (90' bent doublet.. K2)
Band continues to confuse and surprise. Spots all over Europe using *1 watt but no replies today- then worked C6AAE (Bahamas) at 16.45 on 10116 still on 1 watt. Always worth a try then and you never know- great potential for QRPP operation.
- Wythall Radio Club having a QRP month to see what can be worked
Look out for you Warren then!
After the frantic weekend's CQ WW contest elsewhere, 30m is a haven of peace and tranquillity with some real QSO exchanges going on!!
Best
John M6KET
Thank you for the post. Recently I had forgotten about operating on 30, especially since I've been working more on using CW on other bands such as 40. I needed the reminder of how fun 30 can be; therefore you will see me there a lot more often than I used to. Hope to work all of you there soon!
Warren, WQ1C
30CW #376
Kempner, Texas USA
in discussion Community / 30m Propagation » Nice to work VK on 30M
Good job, nice to work Iceland. I get spotted by two stations in Iceland almost every day, but have only worked Iceland on a couple of occasions on this band.
Will de mi0wwb