Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

630m (472 kHz) - 10 m (29 MHz) antennas, propagation, operating, etc
VK2ZG
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Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK2ZG »

Usually I call CQ in what is usually the busiest part of a band (.480 - .520 on 10m) to maximize the chance of a reply.
....I agree with u Wayne hence why im often around .490 seems to be the busiest or most popular and as an operator looking for any contact why would u not try these places first???Anyhow i use radio to communicate,what frequency i do happen to use is kinda irrelavent as there is heaps of spectrum on the 10m band...
Matt (VK2ZMT)
VK4WDM

Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK4WDM »

A lot of Europeans use 29.490 as a working frequency. There was a strong Italian station on there this evening. As you can see by previous posts in the thread, some VK's try and push dx stations off .490 by claiming its "a call channel only." Its not, they won't move, and quite rightly so.

I am having a hard time working anything. We had almost constant rain and storms for days. Every time I turn the rig on lightning starts to flash and I have to ground the antennas. :(

73

Wayne VK4WDM
VK2XQ

Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK2XQ »

The best solution to it all, is be old fashioned, like me, a grumpy old man, find a vacant spot, ask "is the frequency is in use", then just call CQ or CQDX, the majority of times you will get a reply when the band is open, plenty of room on 28MHz SSB to find a roost and just call, the good old fashioned way! Then again, you will find some gentlemen and top ops on the CW portion of the band too.

Part of the problem these days is people don't want to "work" for their DX contacts, they stay glued to the internet spotters, or hover around the "call frequencies" waiting to pounce. Good old fashioned VFO tuning up and down the band is just too much hard work for some, as is finding a clear frequency and placing a call. Well, that's my 10 cents worth :) 73 de Jack.
VK5BC
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Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK5BC »

VK2XQ wrote:The best solution to it all, is be old fashioned, like me, a grumpy old man, find a vacant spot, ask "is the frequency is in use", then just call CQ or CQDX, the majority of times you will get a reply when the band is open, plenty of room on 28MHz SSB to find a roost and just call, the good old fashioned way! Then again, you will find some gentlemen and top ops on the CW portion of the band too.

Part of the problem these days is people don't want to "work" for their DX contacts, they stay glued to the internet spotters, or hover around the "call frequencies" waiting to pounce. Good old fashioned VFO tuning up and down the band is just too much hard work for some, as is finding a clear frequency and placing a call. Well, that's my 10 cents worth :) 73 de Jack.
I couldn't agree with you more Jack, I've found when the band is open to the USA find a frequency between 28.400 & 28450 and call and you will get plenty of replies, most USA activity seems to be between 28.380 to 28.450. When the band is open to Europe most activity is between 28.450 to 28.500 and I find a frequency in this area and call and often have to contend with a dog pile.

I have had many European contacts this year because I have been tuning around in the evening and found an European station calling CQDX somewhere between 28.450 & 28.500, yes sometimes on 28.490 or 28.495 but you will miss many if you only listen to 28.490.

In summary I don't think 28.490 is important except most DX Expeditions operate around there and you should keep clear or QSY off.

My 2 bobs worth.

73's Brian
VK5BC
VK2KRR

Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK2KRR »

Im sure people will QSY and spread out etc when there is propagation running, but when its not or only sporadic E locally, its best to have a focus frequency.
Hows that for a new name for it... :wink: sounds good
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VK3DXE
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Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK3DXE »

We have VFO's, let's use them gents.

I've been through a number of sunspot peaks and this cr@p has never arisen till now. Ahh, the interweb :? ...Giving voice to the previously voiceless who now seem to want to imagine themselves climbing to the highest hill in town to sprout "their" opinions. 10m is a big band. Develop some operating skills and you'll work whatever is out there.
Alan VK3DXE
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VK2AAH
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Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK2AAH »

Hi Alan,

I totally agree with you... I've been drifting around between 390 & 490 and found some good activity today. What I can't fathom is why some of those who claim 490 is NOT a call channel only seem to call on 490. Is it that they don't want to accept a convention, even if it is a convention with limited acceptance, so that they can go on and do what ever they like? I'm just muttering out loud but what is the difference between 480 or 485 or even 505? Does the propagation miraculously change if they move a few kilohertz? Is their antenna suddenly non-resonant? So why the hornets in the underpants when it comes to 28.490? As a newcomer I would like to thank those who stay on 490... less noise for me when I'm down 10 or 20kHz!

Cheers,


Richard
VK2AAH
VK3OX

Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK3OX »

Folks, The use of 28.490 as a frequency on which to call CQ goes back at least the 50+ years I have been monitoring activity on the 10 metre band. It dates from the AM days and the time that amateurs in the USA were limited to 28.500 and above for fone. In those days no one used a transceiver for working AM on 10 metres. Instead you had a separate transmitter and receiver. If you wanted to work AM into the US you adjusted your TX VFO and chose a frequency just outside the US 10 metre fone band, often 28.490 and called CQ. US stations, listening below 28.500 in their DX portion of the band, would then find a clear frequency above 28.500, answer your call and you would work split frequency. At the end of the QSO you would tune up the band from 28.500 to see if there was anyone else calling you, call him and continue to work split frequency. The use of 28.490 (plus and minus) became standard if you wanted to work into the US as it allowed you to be heard instead of being trampled to death by the multiple kilowatt hetrodynes coming out of the West Coast.
Whether this qualifies 28.490 as an "official" calling frequency, I'll leave you to make up your own mind, but that is the background as to why it all came about.

73 de Jim, VK3OX
VK2KRR

Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK2KRR »

What I can't fathom is why some of those who claim 490 is NOT a call channel only seem to call on 490
Hi Richard VK2AAH, I agree there. I dont understand why those people dont call on 28.390, or 28.450 or 28.500 etc either.... instead they insist on calling on 490 and claiming it as their own freq. :shock: weird
Last edited by VK2KRR on Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
VK2AAH
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Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK2AAH »

Hi Leigh,

I also have to chuckle at the complaints on the logger about the language being used by a VK2 today- I think the language is appalling & that the matter needs to be given to ACMA to deal with. That is the kind of stuff that should be getting 10m ops wound up, not this little storm in a teacup. From what I've been hearing most of us are calling anywhere between 400 and 490 and it seems to work- people answer, DX contacts & local ragchews carry on, so frankly who needs 490?

Cheers,


Richard
VK2AAH
VK5KV

Re: Please stop this nonsense on 28.490!

Post by VK5KV »

Quire right, I sit on 28470 and call CQ amazing who answers you back, apparently DX stations aren't aware of this 28490 pseudo "calling freq" they seem to use that thing on their radio called a "VFO" an amazing invention that, you can tune from one end of the band to another...
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