SSB on 17 metres: 18140 kHz, the quiet WARC band by voice

What you hear

Voices on the upper sideband, as in the main article, on the most courteous band on shortwave. The voice segment is small, 18111 to 18168 kHz, so on a good day a dozen conversations fill it, each a few kilohertz apart: unhurried contacts with far-off stations, expeditions working through a modest queue, a net or two. There is no contest shouting here, ever.

Who transmits and why

DX operators who want the reach of 20 m without its crowd. 17 m was given to amateurs at the 1979 conference together with 30 and 12 m, and the three bands have stayed contest-free by agreement, which keeps the pace calm. The band opens when solar activity is reasonable, so in the active years it is a daily DX band, in the quiet years an afternoon one.

When and where to listen

Daylight, from mid-morning to early evening, longer in summer and in the years around a solar maximum. From Europe, mornings favour Asia, afternoons Africa and the Americas. Any receiver works; the band is empty at night. The dial is 18140 kHz in USB.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Amateur radio → SSB 17 m. The program picks a public receiver that covers 18140 kHz, tunes it 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.