Poll: Which bands do you commonly use?

[Alan Georges]

The subject and question lines pretty much say it all, but just to clarify, only mark the bands you actually have the rig and antenna for and use on a semi-regular (say, once a year-ish or more) basis.  You can check any or all of 'em, as you see fit.

Don't check off on, for example, club gear on exotic frequencies that you may occasionally use.  Just check the stuff that you actually own and use.

This exhaustive list is from the ARRL's band plan chart, BTW.

Nothing scientific here, just curious as to which bands folks here use and don't use.

[SCWolverine]

I really enjoy 20...I do most of my 'ragchewing' on 2m when mobile 

[Carl]

I spend most of my time on 2 meter FM and a close second place is 2 meter SSB with a common range of 125 to 200 miles to mobiles and base units. My first HF choice is 20 meters with about equal use between PSK (digital/keyboard use) and voice...20 meters is great for daytime use with ( I am in Louisiana) US East coast and Europe available in the morning and North and South america during the day and favoring West coast to Japan etc at evening. Very predictable capability and better than 90% completion of scheduled contacts within the time/direction capabilities for me...from my area.

[Alan Georges]

Now that a few have polled, I'll chime in.  40m's my favorite all-rounder, I like 20's long-throw, gotta have 2m for local rag chew (11m – i.e., CB – too for that matter).  After that... 80m for NVIS, but I'm finding that it would be great to have more than 100w to punch through summertime distant lightning noise.  10m is fun to screw around on, way more fun than 38lsb ever was on CB.  I'd like to play around with 160m, maybe next winter, but it'll be just that: playing.

It's good to see what people here are really using, you know, just in case.  Also good info for what frequencies to have in a bugout antenna system.  (OK, I've pretty well decided on 40, 20, & 2m, but maybe there'll be some surprises.)  Thanks for the response so far, keep'em coming!

[xsquidgator]

2m and 70cm for local repeaters.
When I dabble in HF it's almost all on 40m and 20m.
Since getting into digital modes a few months ago, almost all of my HF has been PSK31 on 20m, works amazingly well and has gotten me out there with a lot more contacts made than trying voice on almost any other band.

Part of my situation is living in a fairly restrictive HOA suburb, so if I want to use HF, I have to put up an antenna in the backyard, use it, and take it down that day or the next.  That hassle factor makes HF a once or twice a month thing for me. 
That, and that I'm using an ICOM 7000 that at most puts out 100W on HF.  The digital modes really help the effectiveness of even a random wire HF antenna - it's not unusual at night for me to be able to make contacts in Europe and South America over 5500 miles away on only 15 watts.  That would be PSK31 on 20m.

[UnderTheRadar]

20m for long range
40 to single skip over the Cascade range
2m repeaters for the Spokane-Portland-Seattle road trips

[Alan Georges]

Hmmm, this is getting interesting!  So almost everyone does 2m, and about half do 40 and/or 20, and a good number do 70cm.  I'm a little surprised at so few doing 80, but I guess the antennas are kinda big, even if it's just a trap dipole set low for NVIS.

Please keep posting folks, and thanks to everyone who's polled so far.  It's good to learn what's out there and really getting used.

[Smurf Hunter]

I'm the rookie here, but I'll chime in.
For 7 weeks I've had my ticket it's been 95% 2m with a little 70cm until I determined my baofeng ht was defective.

Im actively setting up a 10m rig that I expect operational within a week.   That was a "cheap" way to dip into HF.

I also have a restrictive HOA so my permanent antenn install s are inside my attic.   For vhf and uhf this works well and my fairly high elevation at 700ft helps me hit many regional VHF repeaters.

From my research 20m seems like the logical next step.

[Alan Georges]

Im actively setting up a 10m rig that I expect operational within a week.   That was a "cheap" way to dip into HF.

Be sure to PM me when you get this running.  Even though things don't look to favorable for MS-to-WA on 10m this time of year:

it's still worth a try some weekend mid-day.  Sometimes the ionosphere gods smile and the impossible suddenly becomes easy on 10m.

And for sure, things will be much improved by October and only getting better into the winter months:

[Carl]

While you are limited ,as a Technician,to 28.300-28.500 voice on 10 meters,do not discount the 40 and 80 meter areas that are open to Techs for CW...A PC can send and receive CW as you learn Morse...you don't have to KNOW CW to send and receive with your PC...Just a little free program and you are a very effective station ...even if power and antenna are limited.

  What better way to learn and observe the capability and simplicity of CW?

[Smurf Hunter]

While you are limited ,as a Technician,to 28.300-28.500 voice on 10 meters,do not discount the 40 and 80 meter areas that are open to Techs for CW...A PC can send and receive CW as you learn Morse...you don't have to KNOW CW to send and receive with your PC...Just a little free program and you are a very effective station ...even if power and antenna are limited.

  What better way to learn and observe the capability and simplicity of CW?

For folks like me with a general ticket, is there any functional benefit to using 28.5 to 29.7 on the 10 meter?  It also appeasr a general operator can send images from 28.3 to 29.7, while lesser levels cannot do this and is instead limited to SSB phone up to 28.5

[Carl]

Besides the freedom from crowding,I find little use for 10 meters as a distance thing and more for discrete ,one on one local messaging.
Though it is fun to surf when the band is 'open' I find more conversation on 15,17,and 20 meters and 40 and 80 meters for NVIS work like the 200 mile haul from Shreveport to New Orleans during Katrina/Rita operations.

For radio to be of use,there must be someone on the other end....

[Alan Georges]

... and 40 and 80 meters for NVIS work like the 200 mile haul from Shreveport to New Orleans during Katrina/Rita operations.

Carl, we're in easy NVIS range.  You gonna be on the air this weekend?  PM me and we'll set something up.