Articles of Interest

Ah, the summer contest season is finally here. Lots to do with Ham

Radio. There is increased activity on the Microwave bands, 2, 3, 5,

10, 24, 48 and 76 Ghz. Mike, WB6DJI, has built some very im-

pressive rigs for the upper bands, and they are small and light-

weight. Perfect for roving in the VHF and up contests.

Of course, 6 meters is starting to get active as these are the

months that it typically ‘opens up’ giving us lots of DX. The only

problem is it opens and closes throughout the day and goes by

pretty fast. Best to have a second rig or an SDR watching for activity.

Tech Notes #14, What HF Band to use?

Its always a question for Hams new and old (with a General class or higher license), as in what HF band

should I use? I posed this question to the tech gurus at ARRL and was given a simple reply: “10 MHz and

below, best at night. Above10 MHz, best day”. Its of course a bit more complicated than that, but it seems

20M is good almost any time. The reply went on: “where the bands near 30m are decent any time but best at

day or night depending on what side of 10 MHz they are”. Also: “the reverse beacon net is the easiest way to

tell at a glance which bands are good.”

One handy Web page to determine live band conditions is https://hamradiolist.com/hf-propagation.php. It

covers 6M to 160M.

The Downey Amateur Radio Club turns 75 in 2026. From the pages of our Constitution and By-Laws:

“The (original) constitution and bylaws were read and adopted by Charter members of the Downey Amateur

Radio Club, Inc., at its second meeting held June 12, 1951”. The officers noted were Herb Black, W6HQR,

the Secretary, and Ray Reynolds, W6PNW, the President.