I’ve been a licensed op since Aug 2007 and on HF since about June 2008. I’ve heard tales of 10m contacts on a few watts from a mobile radio all around the world, but I thought they were fairy tales. Since I’ve been operating, 10m has been pretty dead.  I had noticed on Sunday late in the afternoon and early in the evening that 10m was open a bit and I was able to make a couple contacts. This has happened just a few times that I’ve noticed so it was a nice treat.

We have a weekly net on 10m – 28.375 – Monday evening at 9:00pm ET (0200z) with my local radio club and maybe 8-12 local folks participate. Well something happened last night that I’ve never heard before. We had more check-ins from the midwest in “8 land” then we had from the locals checking in. There was literally a pileup of folks from what I recall as Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, etc. Quicker then our 10m net control op (K2ZO operating as K2BAR) could write, they were putting their call out there to check in. I could hear those stations louder coming in at 57 to 59+then I could hear some of the locals at 53 to 55.  It was really marvelous!!

I don’t know how long it will last, but I hope it’s here to stay for a bit. There’s a 10m contest this weekend and it would be nice if the band remained open for it. I only have my G5RV wire antenna but it tunes up fine on 10m so maybe I can work some of that contest this weekend.

And maybe all those tall tales of 10m contacts around the world isn’t as far fetched as they previously seemed to me. Maybe, just maybe, you might be able to work 10m from a mobile rig to a far off land. One can dream.

73,
K2DSL