Band-by-Band Guide

160 metres: a world of its own

1.800 to 2.000 MHz · dark hours · winter

Top Band is the hardest HF band and the most rewarding when it works. It needs darkness: daytime absorption shuts it down. Summer thunderstorm static can bury everything, so winter is the season. The real limits are noise and antenna size: a full dipole is about 77 metres long, and a short or low antenna that “tunes fine” may still radiate very little. Contacts here feel earned.

Try this: on a quiet January night, listen around 1.840 MHz (FT8) for an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise. If your receive noise is high, a separate receive antenna can help more than more power.

80 metres: brilliant sometimes, miserable other times

3.500 to 4.000 MHz · evening and night · best October to March

After dark on a winter evening, 80 m is the band for Alberta-wide and prairie coverage, which is why so many regional nets live here. In daylight the D-layer soaks it up, and on summer evenings static crashes can raise the noise until weak stations vanish. Few bands change personality by season as much as 80 m. If you met it on a stormy July evening, give it another try in November.

Try this: compare 80 m and 40 m at the same time on a winter evening. Around Alberta and next-door provinces, 80 m usually wins; for farther away, 40 m usually does.

60 metres: the regional sweet spot

5 channels plus a small band · 100 W ERP · 2.8 kHz wide · day or night

Sixty metres sits between 80 and 40 and often beats both for covering Alberta and the prairies: less daytime absorption than 80 m, and less skip than 40 m. That makes it a favourite for emergency and regional work. Canadian amateurs have five channels plus, since 2022, the worldwide segment from 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz. We share it as a secondary user, so listen first and never interfere with the primary users.

Rules: maximum 100 W ERP and 2.8 kHz bandwidth. Voice is upper sideband on the channels; CW and digital are allowed too. Many radios need 60 m enabled or the channels programmed into memories. Check the current ISED RBR-4 rules and the RAC band plan before transmitting.

Try this: FT8 on 60 m is usually at 5357 kHz dial. On a weekday afternoon, it shows you how well 60 m covers the province compared with 40 m.

40 metres: the practical workhorse

7.000 to 7.300 MHz · usable around the clock

If you can only have one HF antenna, make it a 40 m dipole. In daylight 40 m covers out to several hundred kilometres, ideal for Alberta and the neighbouring provinces. Through the evening and night it stretches across the continent and often overseas. It needs less help from the sun than the higher bands, so it keeps working through quiet solar years. The catch: at night it can skip right over nearby stations you were hoping to reach, and it gets crowded.

Try this: when you don’t know what will work, start on 40 m. It rarely gives you nothing.

30 metres: the quiet professional

10.100 to 10.150 MHz · CW and digital only · day and night

Thirty metres is narrow, with no voice by band plan and no contests. That makes it calm and orderly. It sits between 40 and 20 m and often works when neither is quite right, especially around sunrise and sunset. Operators who discover it tend to stay.

Try this: if 20 m is fading in the evening and 40 m is still noisy, check 10.136 MHz on FT8.

20 metres: the “magic” band, with limits

14.000 to 14.350 MHz · daylight into evening

Twenty metres is the main daytime DX band and the busiest band on HF. It needs less solar help than 15 or 10 m, so something is usually there, and on long summer days it can stay open well into the night. It disappoints when people expect it to do everything. It overshoots close-in contacts (the skip zone), it closes earlier on winter evenings, and a low antenna sends its signal up at the wrong angle for long hauls.

From VE6CV’s shack: 20 m is where I spend most of my HF time. Once a week I’m net control for the Maritime Mobile Service Network on 14.300 MHz, keeping track of boaters and travellers.

Try this: if 20 m sounds busy but you can’t reach Edmonton or Calgary, that’s the skip zone. Drop to 40 m for those.

17 metres: loved by serious operators

18.068 to 18.168 MHz · daytime

Seventeen metres gives you much of the reach of 15 m with more forgiveness when the sun is weaker, and there are no contests here. Many operators skip it out of habit, so the ones who check it often find quiet, workable openings while 20 m is a zoo.

Try this: make 17 m your second stop whenever 20 m is crowded and 15 m looks uncertain.

15 metres: the smart operator’s band

21.000 to 21.450 MHz · daytime · needs decent solar flux

When the sun is cooperating, 15 m delivers excellent daytime DX with lower noise than the low bands. It gets overlooked between familiar 20 m and exciting 10 m, even when it’s the best choice on the air. It needs real solar support though: on quiet days it may be closed or open only toward the south.

Try this: if 10 m looks iffy and 20 m feels ordinary, check 15 m before assuming the upper bands are closed.

12 metres: 10 metres’ quieter sibling

24.890 to 24.990 MHz · daytime · needs strong solar flux

Twelve metres behaves much like 10 m but opens a little more often and stays open a little longer. Like 17 m it has no contests, so openings are relaxed. It’s a good reason to make sure your tuner or multiband antenna covers it.

10 metres: dead until it suddenly isn’t

28.000 to 29.700 MHz · daytime · high solar flux or summer Sporadic-E

When the sun is active, 10 m is spectacular: big signals from far away with modest power and simple antennas. When the sun is quiet it can sound empty for weeks. “Dead” usually means “not supported right now,” not impossible. From May to August, Sporadic-E can pop 10 m open without warning for short, strong contacts across western North America, often 1,000 to 2,000 km away. The current solar cycle peaked in late 2024. Through the next few years 10 and 12 m will open less often, while 15 and 17 m hold up longer.

Try this: check the solar numbers or our PropMap, then call CQ on 28.074 MHz even if the band sounds empty. Everyone else may just be listening.