Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M

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eHam.net Forum : QRP : Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M

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Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M	Reply
by KQ7DX on October 17, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Hello to group, I was going to make a QRP kit that had a 1 watt power output. The choice will be to get the 20 or 40 meter kit. From your experiences what band will be the best for one watt, 20 or 40 meters.. TNX and 73s scott

RE: Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M	Reply
by K5LXP on October 18, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Why not build a kit for both? 20M would get my nod for a single choice, but as small and inexpensive as they can be, no reason to not to have rigs for all the popular QRP bands. Mark K5LXP Albuquerque, NM

RE: Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M	Reply
by VA3TSK on October 18, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
According to http://qrp.kearman.com/html/gettingstarted04.html you'd be better with 40M. Lately I've been favouring 40M while running portable at 5W, but I've also been having good luck on 20M. It might be more important to think about the time of day you'll mostly be operating. Then talk to some local hams to find out what the pickings are like at that time of day in your area. Once you get the rig built, make sure you get your antenna up nice and high in the air. Have fun! Back in August, I had a nice QSO on 40M with N4QA, from Tobermory, ON, to Radford, VA, about 700mi. I was at 5W and he had a great signal at 2W. So I'm sure you'll do fine with 1W, so long as you can throw a good antenna up. VA3TSK, Greg

RE: Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M	Reply
by N0XE on October 20, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
If I had to make a choice, it would be 40 meters hands down, the choice is mostly due to activity, 40 has many more CW signals on the band just about any day compared to 20 especially at this time of the sun spot cycle. This is also probably due to work schedules with most operators working day jobs and with the ageing ham population, and many retires now living in restricted antenna locations, there is just not near the activity on any of the bands compared to years past. 40 seems to come alive after 6 pm most locations not counting contests of course where all bands will be active usually. 73 Jim N0XE

RE: Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M	Reply
by KQ7DX on October 21, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Thank you for the replies. I have been listening to 40m and you are right, there is a lot of activity there. I was thinking though that maybe 1 watt went farther on 20m. As you mentioned that was a while ago when the conditions were better. Just thought I would ask the pros here as I am not exactly new to QRP but thought the group would have a favourite and would know what band got the best milage on 1 Watt. 73 all and hope to work you on the bands.. scott

RE: Best frequency for 1 watt. 20 or 40M	Reply
by W8ZNX on October 21, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
well if your going to be rock bound its simple to make it work on 20 and 40 if i had to pick between the two bands i would pick 40 dit dit mac

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