Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?
I tried looking over some MUF charts... but its greek to me at this point.
I've tried googling, but unless I know exactly how to phrase my search, I'm
coming up empty...

Any pointers would be great.
Thanks
Jim
KC9FFX

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done
anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?
I tried looking over some MUF charts... but its greek to me at this point.
I've tried googling, but unless I know exactly how to phrase my search,
I'm
coming up empty...

Any pointers would be great.
Thanks
Jim
KC9FFX


Turn the rig on and listen. 20 meters is open about any time of the year
especially during the daylight hours.

hi jim,

you should be able to copy wwv at 14.000 mhz anytime,

what type of antenna are you using (dipole, long wire)
tuner also ? How high is your antenna ?

73 wendy


J Shrum wrote:

Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?
I tried looking over some MUF charts... but its greek to me at this point.
I've tried googling, but unless I know exactly how to phrase my search, I'm
coming up empty...

Any pointers would be great.
Thanks
Jim
KC9FFX

J Shrum wrote:
Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?

As a **VERY** general rule 20m is open pretty much every day pretty much
all day long and an hour or two into the evening.

(many nights it will stay open considerably later)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

wendy wrote:
hi jim,

you should be able to copy wwv at 14.000 mhz anytime,

Ouch! Try 15.000 Mhz.

-Bill

You can tell where 20M is open world wide by using the NCDXF/IARU beacon
system
See URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/intro.html

Specifically 14.100 MHz
If the morse code is too fast --

see URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconPrograms.html

For programs that will tell which beacons are transmitting

Be sure your computer clock is accurate to within a fraction of a second --
See URL:
http://www.locutuscodeware.com/swatch.htm
--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !






"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done
anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?
I tried looking over some MUF charts... but its greek to me at this point.
I've tried googling, but unless I know exactly how to phrase my search,
I'm
coming up empty...

Any pointers would be great.
Thanks
Jim
KC9FFX

you should be able to copy wwv at 14.000 mhz anytime,

(15MHz and a little QRP transceiver probably isn't a general coverage
receiver but...)

Not that easy here on the East Coast. Pretty reliable when there's
daytime on one end or the other or both, but a fair bit of fluctuation.

Tim.

Caveat Lector wrote:
You can tell where 20M is open world wide by using the NCDXF/IARU beacon
system
See URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/intro.html

Specifically 14.100 MHz
If the morse code is too fast --

you need to read the code if the question is the band open at all

indeed I listen for beacons on 6m myself and code at any speed is too
fast but if I can hear em esp if I can a bunch of em the band my well
be open enough to use

see URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconPrograms.html

For programs that will tell which beacons are transmitting

Be sure your computer clock is accurate to within a fraction of a second --
See URL:
http://www.locutuscodeware.com/swatch.htm
--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !






"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done
anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?
I tried looking over some MUF charts... but its greek to me at this point.
I've tried googling, but unless I know exactly how to phrase my search,
I'm
coming up empty...

Any pointers would be great.
Thanks
Jim
KC9FFX

Unlike 6M beacons which transmit continously on a specific frequency, the
NCDXF/IARU Beacon system has 18 beacons around the world transmitting on the
same frequency in rotation. Please read URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconSchedule.html

You do not need to copy the beacon ID in Morse code, programs are available
to ID the beacon transmitting. The program does not read the code, rather it
is time based. That is your computer clock is precisely on time and the
beacons are precisely on time also. The program shows a world map and which
beacon is currently transmitting

The NCDXF/IARU system is a great propagation aid real time -- world wide.

Further there are beacons systems on 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930, and
28.200 megaHertz.

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !


"an_old_friend" wrote in message
ups.com...

Caveat Lector wrote:
You can tell where 20M is open world wide by using the NCDXF/IARU beacon
system
See URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/intro.html

Specifically 14.100 MHz
If the morse code is too fast --

you need to read the code if the question is the band open at all

indeed I listen for beacons on 6m myself and code at any speed is too
fast but if I can hear em esp if I can a bunch of em the band my well
be open enough to use

see URL:
http://www.ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconPrograms.html

For programs that will tell which beacons are transmitting

Be sure your computer clock is accurate to within a fraction of a
second --
See URL:
http://www.locutuscodeware.com/swatch.htm
--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !






"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done
anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any
QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time
of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?
I tried looking over some MUF charts... but its greek to me at this
point.
I've tried googling, but unless I know exactly how to phrase my search,
I'm
coming up empty...

Any pointers would be great.
Thanks
Jim
KC9FFX

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 19:51:54 -0500, J Shrum wrote:

Greetings. I've only been a ham for a couple years. Not really done anything
w/ it however. Just homebrewed a thing or two, but never made any QSO's. I
just acquired a 5w 20m rig (all my budget could allow).
Can someone give me any tips on how to know when 20m is open? What time of
year or time of day is typically good for 20?

Jim: 20M usually has signals readable almost ANY day from 6AM to 7PM from
all over North America and sometimes beyond. Only in the worst propagation
conditions can you not hear any signals.

I suspect one of 3 things if you are asking this question:

1) you don't get on the air enough and listen for signals
2) your antenna is very bad, untuned, or in mineshaft
3) your receiver is almost dead.

Check the band more often, check your antenna and check your receiver.

Larry VE7EA