Southampton South Coast Hampshire Quiet

Well this is probably me receiving at the wrong time but generally across the 26MHz to 29MHz there is little or no regular activity.

Having said this run an RSPDuo SDR from 8:00am through to 8:00pm and am present for most of that time and spectrum display is lacking any activity. Also have other kit scanning for activity and zilch.

Today Italy was coming in on skip but as for anything else then nothing.

There is a daily CH19 pop up hogger (no call sign just whistles) but that is all and then rants on about "Caravan Man".

So I'm concluding that GENERALLY my location across the 11m band is a dead spot.

Scan.
Re ch19, same up here, usual idiots pumping 100+ Watts just to chat to each other 5 streets down the road, or 2 other individuals playing music for hours on end. It's been like this since I returned to the hobby 8 months ago.
I was about to pack up my station and give it all up then I discovered what some call "Freebanding" Now I hardly go on 19 except to chat with 2 friends at set times, but "sit" on 27.555Mhz and just listen/monitor. There's always something / someone to listen to. Always a few more "mature" people on but when the "skip" is in that part of the band comes alive.
I have difficult operating conditions here in that not allowed external antenna so have to make do with a Dipole in the loft. This morning I was literally buzzing, I had my first overseas contact (using my recently awarded callsign - thanks Gary) - Bologna Italy, rapidly followed by South East France then Leipzig Germany. All on 8 watts. I nearly fell out of my chair with disbelief when they came back with my callsign as I reached for the pen & log book. At around 7pm this evening I heard 3 or 4 stations on the South Coast, Plymouth, Southampton + 2 in Brighton calling north/Scotland but couldn't get through as there was just too many people responding, it was a pile up.
So don't give up yet mate, have a listen on the Triple 555 and keep trying. Ask on here for advice / help / tips if you're not getting through. Look at YouTube - Max Mountain World and look up his Freebanding Radio bids, he's done loads.
Hope this has lifted your spirits, the "skip" season is just starting and going by today seems like it could be a good one. I'll never sit on 19 again.

Stay safe.
73's
Dale
26-CT-3550

Channel 38 seems to be the most active one on the UKFM - quite a few people around the Solent. Ch19 in Southampton is notorious for having some absolute morons on it. You've got the Thursday night SSB net on 27395 which has quite a few people round this way on it. And there are more people coming (back) on. Sunday afternoons on 34FM you've got Sid's net (when he is out or someone else gets up on Combe Gibbet) which usually has a few on from around Hampshire as well as further afield.

Hi All,
I think the Ch19 thing is nation wide, we have the same thing here in Birmingham, well its not B/ham but the muppets next door in the Black Country,,, The usual things are dead key, over keying and 100watts to talk 3 miles . Most days I have 7lbs of mexico from them on every block, AM FM and ssb. seems to be the same 5 or 6 people ( I use the word people loosely )... Ive been chatting with a couple of the lads about trying get an FM net going in the early hours,,,, 30 years ago if you waited for the muppets to go to bed some good distance could be done on FM with 4 watts and a legal twig. Don't see why it couldn't work today,,,, just like back then the dickheads have to sleep ...

73s Tom 26CZ455

For me 11m is an exceptional band, much like 10m & to a degree, 20m. Most of the time it's dead so when those bands come alive it's exciting as hell!

11m will always have the Ch19 sad individuals and they will always be at 19 because they need an audience. Luckily it's usually other sad 19ers that frequent there so they keep each other amused Doesn't seem to have changed since the legal 80's and probably never will.

11m adds that excitement for me in that I can transmit on it as a citizen interested in radio. No club to join, no so called qualifications to take, no conformity, just the freedom to get on air if I wish. When conditions are ripe I can talk to a complete stranger in another country and personally be just as excited by it as the last time or even the very first time. Not everyone will get that feeling, but a hell of a lot do.

Today conditions were such that Europe skipped in all over the place, France one minute, Spain the next, then Germans, Italians and then the Netherlands. As they faded in and out you can hear all the English stations fading into sound, also shouting for all their worth to their European counterparts. Didn't get one successful contact myself, but had bl**day good fun trying in the knowledge that I might be successful!

I listen to 10m & 20m for the same kind of reasons. Recently on the sunrise golden hour I heard the best QSO between a VK ham in Tasmania chatting to an Italian operator then a German one and actually having interesting conversations Had to be listening at 4:30 am for that moment and for me, flipping worth it!

I like the 'dead' bands because on the whole they are dead, but boy do they come alive.

I suppose it depends on what you want from the hobby, yes hobby, because no matter how serious you get about it.... it's just another hobby

Enjoy as you see fit.

Excellent post Victor
Found myself nodding in agreement at every paragraph.

Dale, dear sir, you are obviously amongst those that actually get it

Radio is a different beast for all. Homebrew, QRP, DX, entries in a log book, pins in a map, entries on a computer, certificates, supposed heirarchy amongst your peirs, equipment boasting or even plain simply moaning about it.

But we all do appreciate that little bit of radio magic

Right on Victor

Tom