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What to listen to · Amateur radio

SSB on 10 metres: 28450 kHz with good propagation

When 10 m opens, a few watts and a short antenna carry a voice across continents; when it is closed, 28450 kHz is silent for days. How to tell the two apart and when the voice segment of 10 m is worth a visit.

Frequency28450 kHz
ModeUSB

What you hear

Either silence or a party. On a closed day 28450 kHz is hiss. On an open day the upper-sideband voices of the main article arrive from one region at a time, stations from the other side of the world running ten watts into a mobile whip, and the voice segment from 28300 to about 29000 kHz fills with contacts, nets and, in a contest, a station every two kilohertz. In summer a sporadic-E opening brings a burst of signals from 500 to 2000 km that lasts an hour.

Who transmits and why

Amateurs who love an open band, and in some countries holders of entry-level licences, for whom 10 m is one of few shortwave bands allowed. Long-distance work needs high solar activity, so the band's character swings with the eleven-year cycle: a daily DX band in active years, a local one in quiet years, and the openings themselves are the attraction.

When and where to listen

In the active years, daylight from late morning to late afternoon, best in autumn and spring; from Europe, Africa and South America after noon, North America towards evening. From May to August, sporadic E at any hour. Choose a receiver in the region you want to hear. The dial is 28450 kHz in USB.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Amateur radio → SSB 10 m. The program picks a public receiver covering 28450 kHz and sets USB with the voice passband; a click on a signal in the waterfall puts the voice on pitch. No receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed.

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