One of my favorite types of contesting is working a single band. There are few better ways to learn about propagation of any kind than through working one band for 48-hours.

Ham radio contesting is filled with stories of working another continent on a band that should be closed at that particular time. Or, working tropospheric openings on ten meters when the sunspots are at a minimum and no contacts should be made.

The beauty of working a single band is learning how the band opens. How the band closes down. How the band opening moves between geographic locations as the contests continues.

Rather than racing to the next open band in the contest, a single band entry allows the operator to check long path openings, skewed path openings, and just plain weird openings that happen during the course of the contest.

It’s loads of fun — and you learn how propagation works at the same time.

Scot, K9JY

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