Description

The 80 meter band is the most popular band for regional “Ragchews” through late afternoon and the night time. Contacts can be made within a 200 to 500 mile range. During the night contacts came be made up to 1000 miles away depending on propagation. The lower CW portion of the band is called 80 meters while the upper phone portion of the band is often referred to as the 75 meter band. The D-layer absorbs daytime signals making the band useless during the day. Also, during the year there are times the band can be taken over by man-made noise sources and thunderstorms causing static crashes making communicating very difficult. During the late fall and winter months DXing is a lot easier due to fewer thunderstorms producing noise.

Many amateurs using dipole antennas have a difficult time getting the antenna up high enough for DXing. Most amateurs do not have trees taller than a hundred foot to get the antenna up high enough for a low angle of radiation. Even at 60 foot the antenna is still an NVIS antenna with a high angle of radiation which is best for regional contacts but not for DXing.  If your interest is DXing, consider using a horizontally or vertically polarized antenna for a lower angle of radiation.

SSB Phone is LSB

Half-Wave Dipole

125′ (3.750 MHz)

Freqs. (MHz)	Activites
3.500-3.510	CW DX Window
3.560	CW QRP Calling Frequency
3.570-3.600	RTTY and Data
3.576	JT-65
3.580.150	PSK31
3.585-3.600	Automatically controlled data stations
3.590	RTTY and Data DX
3.713	EasyPal
3.790-3.800	LSB DX Window
3.845	SSTV
3.885	AM Calling Frequency
3.985	QRP SSB Calling Frquency