1 - Historically Amateurs referred to band by the wavelength, not frequency. It's caused no end of confusion over the years to newer hams. So 160 meters is the "top" band meaning the longest wavelength.
It all began when Hams were forced all the way "down" to only 200 meters by the US Government to keep them off of the "useful" longer wavelengths. Back then "everyone knew" that no one could get out of their back yards at only 200 meters. 300 to 700 meters were the favored wavelengths for real communications, with commercial stations capable of huge antennas using much longer wavelengths yet. Skip propagation and the Heaviside (ionosphere) were unknown. All communications was thought to be by ground wave. Putting hams on 200 meters then was thought to be the end of Ham radio; sort of like limiting Hams to simplex operation at 5 GHz would be today. So Hams reluctantly hung around 200 meters, with a lot of then hanging closer to 150 meters, certain that they'd never be heard way down at 200 meters, until the government put it's bureaucratic foot down and started enforcing the rules. Then, of course, the first inklings of "skip" propagation were discovered around 200 meters (which is about the top end of the current AM Standard Broadcast Band in North America) and, for the experimenters among the fraternity, the rush was on to get "down" to shorter and shorter wavelengths. While that was happening, the 200 meter (later the 160 meter) band was the one most commonly used for traffic relays with its more stable and predictable propagation. After WWII, when the 160 meter band was swamped with LORAN QRM, that job shifted on "down" to 80 meters. 2 and 3 - I belong to this list, which often has discussions about anything to do with operating on any band and any mode that an Elecraft rig uses, and to one other. Since I enjoy tinkering with parts that are supposed to glow when in operation (tubes) I belong to the glowbugs list at http://tinyurl.com/2r9y4 Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- Question 1: With 160 meters being the LOWEST band in frequency, why is it referred to as TOP band? Question 2: If there are more appropriate lists for discussing ham radio related topics of general interest, what are they? Question 3: What amateur radio related lists do you yourself value belonging to? So far I've only found the Elecraft and QRP-L groups to be of lasting interest. Thanks, Bill _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft You must subscribe to post. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, Unsub etc): http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft page: http://www.elecraft.com
