"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
Dan wrote:
I have had my htx-10 for a few days now and have not heard anything.
No CW, no beacons, nothing. Tried calling CQ about a hundred times
but no answer. I have tried two different antenna configurations..
First, a dipole with about 8' of wire on both ends, and then a
magnetic mount CB/Ham antenna from radio shack. I trimmed both of
them using a SWR meter (I get about 1.2-1.3 on both of them). Using
RG58 cable. I have read many posts by people using the same exact
configuration who were able to make contacts within 1 hour of hooking
it up. I am able to hit the local 10M repeater 35 miles away but that
is about it. I keep my RF gain all the way up and have my mic gain at
about 1 o'clock. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Walt and Dave gave you some good advice.

One other thing I'd try... When you're home and doing something else,
leave the radio squelched on FM. 29.600 FM is the FM calling frequency
and a good frequency to monitor.

A better frequency to monitor might be 28.490 FM.

The stations on that frequency will be using USB, so they won't be
intelligible with your radio in FM mode. But they will "make some
noise", so you'll know there are signals present. And in FM mode, your
radio has a wider IF filter -- it will hear signals that aren't on
exactly 28.490, so you stand a chance of hearing someone who decides to
fire up on, say, 28.485. When the squelch opens and you start hearing
unintelligible "monkey chatter", switch to USB and tune around to find
the station in question.

If you have a TV with an antenna on it, leave it on and tuned to an open
channel between 2 and 6. When you start seeing stations on channels
that are normally empty, there's probably "short skip" in - this is also
very good for 10 meters. Short skip should become relatively
commonplace as we enter May. It won't deliver much foreign DX (it's
good for a maximum of about 2,000 miles in most cases) but you'll make
plenty of American QSOs, and you may work a few stations from the
Caribbean and Central America.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com


You might also monitor the FM repeaters in the Caribbean. They are listed
in the ARRL repeater directory. Although being in Texas, you might be too
close to hear them via ionospheric propagation even when the band opens up.
However if you do hear them, then that's the time to drop down into the area
where you have privileges and try calling CQ.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE