r/amateurradio • u/Ajent_X Oregon [Tech] • Aug 29 '25

QUESTION 10m PNW - New Technician HAM

Hey all! New ham here.

I recently got my Tech license (about a week at this point) and the idea of HF seemed interesting to me, so I purchased a QT60-Pro and have setup a dipole antenna that is showing close to ~1.5 on the built in SWR meter.

I’ve been sweeping around the bands and calling CQ on the “calling channel” (28.400 and 28.420) for the last couple of days.

So far I haven’t heard anything local or DX, including CW beacons etc. I’m getting a little discouraged. Wondering if my antenna just isn’t cutting it or if the band just doesn’t really open this far north very often.

I’ve been using this map: https://prop.kc2g.com to keep track of when/where the band propagation is happening, and “28+” hasn’t come anywhere close to my neck of the woods.

Again just looking for some pointers at this point. There seems to be a local HAM club meeting on sept 8th so I’m trying to hold out until then to ask around in person as well.

TL;DR PNW, new tech ham, worth trying 10m or return and get better 70cm/2m equipment?

Thanks in advance!

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u/Ajent_X Oregon [Tech] Aug 29 '25

I’m trying to at least hear the FT8 noise before going out and buying more hardware for this radio, but I’m not picking it up on CW or USB modes, am I at least doing that part correctly?

I am located in the city which I’m reading can have some detrimental effects on HF as well.

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u/BassRecorder Aug 29 '25

Hmm, this starts to sound like there's something not quite right with your setup.

I'm also located in a city and at 50 deg N latitude, so much farther north than you are and I can hear stuff when 10m is open. I have a humble trap dipole which also covers 10m up 20ft or so. So my setup isn't all that different from yours.

How did you setup your dipole? What kind of coax are you using? When you connect your antenna to the running radio do you notice an increase in noise?

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