I operated Field Day from opening until around midnight EDST Saturday.
Did not operate at all Sunday due to family obligations.

Now, a few minutes before the end of FD, I tuned around 80, 40, 20,
15, and 10 -- NOTHING. One CW station on the low end of 40 and
possibly a couple of South Americans on 20 SSB.

Are the bands that dead?

On 6/27/2010 6:37 PM, wrote:
I operated Field Day from opening until around midnight EDST Saturday.
Did not operate at all Sunday due to family obligations.

Now, a few minutes before the end of FD, I tuned around 80, 40, 20,
15, and 10 -- NOTHING. One CW station on the low end of 40 and
possibly a couple of South Americans on 20 SSB.

Are the bands that dead?

Same thing in E.MA. We ran 4A, all barefoot, but still you'd think we
were using spark transmitters for all the contacts we got. I've never
heard things so dead.

The only stations doing well were running class "F".

W1AC

Bill Horne wrote:
On 6/27/2010 6:37 PM, wrote:
I operated Field Day from opening until around midnight EDST Saturday.
Did not operate at all Sunday due to family obligations.

Now, a few minutes before the end of FD, I tuned around 80, 40, 20,
15, and 10 -- NOTHING. One CW station on the low end of 40 and
possibly a couple of South Americans on 20 SSB.

Are the bands that dead?

Same thing in E.MA. We ran 4A, all barefoot, but still you'd think we
were using spark transmitters for all the contacts we got. I've never
heard things so dead.

The only stations doing well were running class "F".

I piddled with a 1E operation from here in West Virginia. I made 420
QSOs at the 100 watt level including a goodly number (100 or so) on 10m
CW and SSB. A ZL station responded to one of my 15m CQs. I didn't find
it too tough to work the West Coast on 80m CW on Saturday night.

I say things are looking up.

Dave K8MN

Reminds me of a story back in a '30s vintage QST titled "Haywire".
After the guy does a terrific job of bashing a transmitter together.
He can't make any contacts with it. His conclusion? "The bands are
dead."

Note: This is NOT a comment on anyone's ability at field day, just
a random memory of an old story I'd read in QST that was brought
back to me by this thread.

Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:39:39 EDT, Bill Horne
wrote:

On 6/27/2010 6:37 PM, wrote:
I operated Field Day from opening until around midnight EDST Saturday.
Did not operate at all Sunday due to family obligations.

Now, a few minutes before the end of FD, I tuned around 80, 40, 20,
15, and 10 -- NOTHING. One CW station on the low end of 40 and
possibly a couple of South Americans on 20 SSB.

Are the bands that dead?

Same thing in E.MA. We ran 4A, all barefoot, but still you'd think we
were using spark transmitters for all the contacts we got. I've never
heard things so dead.

The only stations doing well were running class "F".

W1AC

The bands were dead here in southern Nevada, also.

Class F stations are Emergency Operations Centers. They are permanent
installations and as such have months to get their stations and in
particular their antennas correct. In contrast class A and B stations
are temporary setups. Most of them set up on Saturday morning,
although a few set up beginning at 1800 UTC Friday.

Our FD site was a patch of desert about 5 miles outside of town. In
the desert southwest where I live, temperatures get to 110 F at
midday. So we set up beginning at 6 AM local time (1300 UTC), when
the temp was only in the 70's. That took 2 hours, and then we waited
until 1100 local (1800 UTC).

We had the usual problems of temporary setups, such as bad cables. One
RF connector was found to be hot to the touch, so we found out where
most the RF from that transmitter went.

Dick AC7EL

"Dave Heil" wrote

I piddled with a 1E operation from here in West Virginia. I made 420 QSOs
at the 100 watt level including a goodly number (100 or so) on 10m CW and
SSB. A ZL station responded to one of my 15m CQs. I didn't find it too
tough to work the West Coast on 80m CW on Saturday night.

I say things are looking up.

Oftentimes at/toward the end of contests the bands do seem to "die."
Normally of late I've heard no activity on 15 or 10, but once Field Day
started on Saturday afternoon here in ENY, I sure did hear plenty of signals
on 15, and a few weak ones on 10. Contests are pretty good at activating
otherwise "dead" bands. Later in the day I went out to the club's FD site
and listened to a member operating on 20 in a very crowded band. I'm at a
loss understanding what some the other posters never heard.

Howard N7SO

On Jun 28, 9:10 am, "Howard Lester"
wrote:

otherwise "dead" bands. Later in the day I went out to the club's FD site
and listened to a member operating on 20 in a very crowded band. I'm at a
loss understanding what some the other posters never heard.

We made about 3000 Contacts from the middle of Pennsylvania.

The bands weren't exceptional, but weren't too bad either.

We get this every once in a while, I don't know each individual case,
but from dealing with individuals at Field day and contests, when I'm
asked to take a look at a radio that "isn't working", I've found that
people tend to tune too fast, I can find stations and work them while
they hear mostly blips. Other times there can be antenna problems.
I've also seen the occasional case where the Op is not used to working
a particular band. We had a fellow come over to our 20 meter station
after working 40 meters. Propagation differences can be an issue on
different bands re how to operate.
Also on the Field Day subject, we usually run a full legal limit, and
directional antenna setup for 10 through 40 meters (40 meter beams are
fun and you WILL be heard at that level. But I'm kind of conflicted
about this. We get new guys to set at the radio, they call and other
people answer with the big gun, and all's okay. But if you put them at
a lower power station, they tend to think that "it doesn't work". They
have serious trouble making any contacts. Then they really scratch
their heads when I hop on and do a quick 50 QSO run. Some get
embarrassed, but I'm just trying to verify the radio working.

I just don't think it is all that great an idea to start the new folks
on a system that is a monster. When we used to use a GOTA station,
they referred to it as the toy station, and lined up to use high
power, and some wouldn't bother to put up a station at home afterwards
because they were discouraged by how much work it was to be heard. And
yet it wasn't. They were just developing bad habits with the big gun
station. They didn't have to worry about being heard. But they weren't
developing skills.

On 6/27/2010 6:37 PM, wrote:
I operated Field Day from opening until around midnight EDST Saturday.
Did not operate at all Sunday due to family obligations.

Now, a few minutes before the end of FD, I tuned around 80, 40, 20,
15, and 10 -- NOTHING. One CW station on the low end of 40 and
possibly a couple of South Americans on 20 SSB.

Are the bands that dead?


I did not sit down at the radio till 1pm eastern time (1700 GMT) and
worked 13 stations in that last hour.

Could have worked many more but I'm entirely solo, Paper logging, since
my "Shack" computer is on the fritz.

The bands sure weren't dead here!

I did FD with a local multi-club group here in EPA. Done it with them
several years now because of a couple of good friends and because they
have a site and power.

We were in 7A + GOTA, with 100-watt class rigs for 160 through 2
meters, plus satellite, at a local park. Power was Onan genset that
ran the whole period on one (quite large) tank of gas. Logging was
N3FJP networked software.

In previous years we've had one CW capable station, and all the rest a
mixture of 'phone and digital. Usually the lone CW station made about
2/3 as many contacts as the rest of the setup combined. Last year
(2009) we were 5A and made 528 CW QSOs (a new record for the site)
with our single CW setup. The 'phone and digital folks made about 700
QSOs last year IIRC.

This year (2010) we had 2 CW capable HF stations (one full time, one
part time) plus a part-time 160 station that did a handful of CW QSOs.
We set a new group record of over 750 CW QSOs - more than double the
total number of 'phone QSOs by all the other setups combined. The old
528 QSO record was broken before FD was 12 hours old. There were
periods when I was working them more than 1 a minute in S&P mode.

When all the results are in, our CW total may be a new group record
for a single mode.

All HF stations ran 100-watt-class mid-line xcvrs and wire or vertical
antennas. The CW-only station rig was an FT-897 and the CW/SSB rig was
an FT-100D. Other rigs ranged from an IC-746PRO to a TS-2000 to an
IC-740.

The GOTA station made 110 'phone QSOs. Somebody brought digital stuff
but never hooked it up.

We hit the air at exactly 1800 UTC Saturday and quit a little early. I
got a couple of hours sleep in the wee small hours. I was home by 1900
UTC.

A high point was working K8MN Sat nite. Thanks for the points, Dave!

---

The bands tend to be quiet right after FD because everybody is packing
up and going home. Many groups I know will do an early quit because
it's hot, new ones are getting hard to find, and people are facing the
drive home with a big unload at the end of it.

The best bet for gauging FD band condx IMHO is what the bands were
like on Saturday nite, not Sunday afternoon.

73 de Jim, N2EY

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:37:20 EDT, wrote:

I operated Field Day from opening until around midnight EDST Saturday.
Did not operate at all Sunday due to family obligations.

Now, a few minutes before the end of FD, I tuned around 80, 40, 20,
15, and 10 -- NOTHING. One CW station on the low end of 40 and
possibly a couple of South Americans on 20 SSB.

Are the bands that dead?


I operated 1B-Battery using a solar panel to charge the battery.
Equipment was a 1-watt QRP rig for 40, antenna was a dipole that I
lashed together and hung up about 15 feet off the ground. Operated in
the shade sitting in front of my garden shed-workshop.

Operated only 40, everything manual -- straight key, paper log and
dupe sheet, all by myself. Temp was in the 90's so, in keeping with
the battery-solar theme, I kept myself cool with an old muffin fan
running off the battery.

Made 250 contacts between start of FD and midnight Saturday when I
shut down. All my contacts were east of the Mississippi, probably due
to my QRP and dinky antenna -- it was FUN -- every contact was an
adventure.

Had family obligations so did not get back on until a couple of hours
before the end Sunday and found 40 dead as a doornail here in Eastern
Virginia.