1.9 MHz is the lowest frequency most hams ever use, and the daytime D-layer swallows it whole. In daylight 160 meters does essentially nothing. There is no clever trick and no workaround — you wait for dark.
1.9 MHz is the lowest frequency most hams ever use, and the daytime D-layer swallows it whole. In daylight 160 meters does essentially nothing. There is no clever trick and no workaround — you wait for dark.
After sunset it becomes something else entirely. On a cold, quiet winter night 160 will cross oceans. Summer is the enemy: thunderstorms hundreds of miles away lay down a constant crash of static that can make the band unusable even when propagation is perfect.
It is also brutally hard on antennas. A full half-wave is 260 feet long. Almost nobody has that, so most operators run a compromise and earn every contact. That difficulty is precisely why working someone far away on topband is a badge of honour.
| FREQUENCY (MHz) | MODE | LICENSE CLASS |
|---|---|---|
| 1.800–1.810 | Digital / data | General, Advanced, Extra |
| 1.810–1.843 | CW | General, Advanced, Extra |
| 1.843–2.000 | Voice / SSB / image | General, Advanced, Extra |