The Dead-Band Illusion

When a band seems "dead" (you hear no signals), try sending CQ a few times. You might get a surprise response! 73 de W1GV.
sciencewriter-dot-net

[@reggiehodges6784]

So long friend ! I learned a lot from you ! 73 up there !

[@l.a.2646]

73 Stan , We'll miss you OM ..

[@EarlGray_kd7sjt]

I have to say Stan, I have grown quite fond of the nightly videos. I always enjoy hearing a great story or operating adventure you share. Keep up the great work and keep getting better. I keep you in my prayers regularly. 73 my friend, de KD7SJT

[@chrisyoung3082]

Lovely video. .. certainly cheered me up ... thank you ... 73

[@CamilleCullen-ow6qj]

I lLOVE Stan's video's!!! I hope they stay up on KZbin forever!!! Robert K5TPC

[@McPilot_W3DDS]

GOD SPEED STAN YOU WILL BE MISSED

[@OldCBnGuns]

I love your simple analogies about ham radio.

[@GoAmateurRadio]

Gotta love Stan! I thought he was going to talk about the Grateful Dead. Not the dead band syndrome.

[@johnc3403]

..most of us amateurs are listeners instead of talkers. That doesn't mean we have to have our bands taken from us. You're a star Stan.. keep up the great work my friend...

[@BoB4jjjjs]

It's the old story, use it or loose it. If you don't want to talk, try some other mode like an SDR radio. If you have a computer you can have all the info you want to send ready and if asked a question you are not prepared for you can just type and hit send. Not got the licence you, but working on it slowly. I was always SSB though but it was not legal here. But when legal CB (Yes the dreaded CB) came out I used what I was allowed. Now they tell me I can use AM,FM,USB,LSB, Phase modulation. In other words, they don't care anymore as they are not making any money from a CB licence these days in the UK. The sets for what they are are very expensive and just as cheap to get a mobile Ham radio or wait to get the Full Licence and get something a bit more useful.

[@HamAndShortwaveRadio]

The same thing can be found on a normal weekday , and then compared to a contest weekend. All through the week it seems propagation is bad , and then Bingo , when its contest day the propagation seems to be good and there are stations everywhere..

[@BoB4jjjjs]

I hate contests unless you are involved. Been to a few, but when you are not the operator it can get a bit boring unless you are writing everything into the log. Putting up the antennas is good fun, but it is strange how it changes when you are taking them down again. The energy appears to have gone from everyone!

[@colinkeeler3650]

You are right, young Mr. Stan, to stay out of the petri dish. Keep your foot dry, and hoist your antenna higher!

[@James_Bowie]

Sadly, Stan passed away on May 3, 2020

[@pixotica]

Put that radio right by the bed Stan , you can relax and CQ. I am a radio hermit as well. I call out many times a day, and always find someone on the old 27 mhz ssb.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Yeah, by the bed is a good place, though I doubt the wife would let me get away with it! lol

[@shastaham7630]

Love the “kilocycles” comments! Nostalgia.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Funny, I had a teacher that just spoke of the radio being in Cycles, he was the Old School, but it was confusing when he told you to go tune the radio to so many thousand cycles, you looked at the dial and it was in Kilocycles or Megacycles! If you looked round quickly, you could see the slight grin on his face. I don't know if we were supposed to work it out for ourselves, but I know what programme to tune to anyway. I got him back by asking him to explain what the ddh dits on the short wave radio was and acting as if I didn't have a clue as to what it was. He then had to go through it all and when he saw some were interested, we made home made keys at school and learned for ten minutes before end of school. He even got a Ham in to demonstrate it in action, this peaked my interest in radio, especially when he went from Morse to talk on the radio. I wish I had kept what he taught us back then, but it was the SSB that got me interested. I suppose you could say by him getting the Ham in, he got his own back on us. We wanted to know a lot more, but we had to stay behind after that if we wanted to know more. As 7 to 8 year old, it got a bit boring, we just wanted to use a radio! Wish I had kept the information he passed on to us back then, but we had other things to do and after leaving school, Girls got in the way! Then Motorcycles and Girls! Then to top it all off I got hitched with wife and kids! Now that I am almost in a wheelchair I have the time and no energy! But I will get through somehow and get someone to put up an antenna (I hope). It is just such a struggle to keep going!

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Go hit that Key Whisky 1 Good Vibrations and wake up a band.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Stan Whisky 1 Good Vibrations, look after that foot and yourself.

[@James_Bowie]

Sadly, Stan passed away on May 3, 2020

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@James_Bowie Thanks for letting me know.

[@jimfischer4703]

Quite a character. Sorry to hear about the SK.

[@richysradioroom]

Now we have beacons to know for sure.

[@richysradioroom]

Beacons

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@richysradioroom Yes, you can have a beacon send your call sign. Usually very low power but sometimes heard at the other end of the world. Good fun hearing back from those that have heard it. They look you up and send you an email saying where it was heard and when and a signal report. Now does that interest you?

[@BoB4jjjjs]

Maybe you knew that anyway?

[@gje7349]

40 meters is hot in Texas tonight. Everything else is just about dead.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

You may think that but did you try CQ? Sometimes it can surprise you. Everyone hears nothing and goes somewhere else, it just takes one to call CQ and then there is a pile up!

[@chrischung2365]

Hi Stan, this is off topic, but do you have any idea what clothing materials would be capable of blocking mm waves from 30ghz to 300ghz? Many thanks,

[@stangibilisco]

Nope. 73 de Stan W1GV.

[@HamAndShortwaveRadio]

I take it that you have a fear of 5G ? Transmissions in this frequency range are of non ionizing radiation. While there may be heating of tissue with this type of radiation , it doesn't cause cancer. Medical studies into EMR (electromagnetic radiation safety) started 60 years ago , and there has been THOUSANDS of studies , and none have shown any direct cause of health risks at these power levels. Some studies have claimed risk , but these study results were not able to be reproduced , or the results independently verified. Is 5G perfectly safe ? , no one can say for sure - there may be some risk ,, but then there is the risk of slipping on a bar of soap when we shower and dying (1 chance in 812,232) that people willingly accept every day. If you want to live a life with modern conveniences , like showering and 5G - you must accept that there may be some risk involved.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

A suit of armour :-P

[@chrischung2365]

@@BoB4jjjjs lol

[@HazeAnderson]

Unrelated but are you using your older cam for this video? Seems lower resolution -- could be caused by the lighting too ... I met a Morse. :) Surely that is a sign from God telling me to learn Morse code. :)

[@stangibilisco]

Same camera. It's the one in my iPad and it's the best I've got. By all means learn the Morse Code. :-) 73 de Stan W1GV.

[@BoB4jjjjs]

@@stangibilisco I was never interested in Morse, but now I find I recognise some of the letters and I am starting to get interested. This was what put me off going for a licence for years. Now I have decided to try again and get started. It has only taken me a few decades!!!

[@richardcallihan9746]

You are missed.

[@glenmartin2437]

Enjoy the happy hunting grounds. NOQFT