The Forgotten Band

160 Meters

10 - 80 meters, 10 - 80 meters, but theres one missing here, what happened to 160 meters?

Probably 90 - 95% of Hams seldom make use of 160 meters, most often because they have been led to believe that they need a large antenna system which requires a lot of real estate to effectively communicate on 160 meters, this is not so.

Many years ago when I was sitting in the Ham shack, I suddenly realized that I had this really nice HF rig that was capable of working 160 meters, and since purchasing it, I never worked 160 meters.

Like so many I had this perception that in order to work 160 meters it would require a large antenna of some sort which would require either a large investment in time, money, and lots of real estate.

Like many Hams, I own  SGC auto couplers that allow one to auto couple an antenna to a rig almost instantly, they are capable of coupling just about anything, you can load up a 30 gallon garbage can with them, not pretty, but it will actually work.

All that aside, I have very little real estate for erecting antennas, so I decided that I would experiment, that's what Ham radio is all about anyway, experimentation.

I suddenly had a crazy idea, I procured my wife's Tupperware waste basket, she wasn't happy about that, I mounted an SGC-237 auto coupler inside, then I flipped it over and mounted an old CB 102 inch stainless steel whip antenna with the ball to adjust the angle and tilt, attached 4 long radials and spread them out on the roof of our home. I secured the whole crazy thing to the roof, you can accomplish this without drilling holes in the roof of your home if you're a little creative.

Sounds nutty so far, read on:

That evening I fired up the HF rig, dialed up 160 meters, I picked a frequency on 160 meters where I heard a QSO in progress, I activated the SGC-237 auto coupler, WALA, it tuned right up.

I waited for the appropriate moment and attempted to join the ongoing conversation, I was immediately surprised and both Hams heard my request to join in. We spent a considerable amount of time that evening chatting back and forth; finally one of the two Hams asked me what I was using for an antenna and commented that I had one of the biggest signals on the frequency.

It was hard not to laugh, I told them that I was using a "Tupperware Waste Basket Verticle Antenna", both of them began to laugh, and I repeated that I was infact using a homebrew Tupperware Waste Basket Antenna that I had put together in a few hours. They were flabbergasted, once again, they commented that I had one of the best signals on 160  meters that evening. They couldn't believe this crazy setup actually worked.

So the moral to the story is:

"You don't need to spend a great deal of money, you don't have to have a large antenna array, and you don't need a lot of real estate to communicate on 160 meters. You're not going have the biggest signal on 160 meters, but if you want to enjoy and experiment with 160 meters, you can engage in QSO's on 160 meters with this simple setup or something similar Obvioulsy, if you're into big time contesting, you're not going to win the contest with the antenna system I have described here.

Many Hams have limited resources, however, with a little effort, you can get on 160 meters regardless of whether you have a lot of real estate to work with, and you don't have to invest a lot of time and money to erect an antenna to work 160 meters.