What use is an F-call?

As an amateur you have access to a whole range of frequencies. When I started in this hobby, I chose to buy an all-band set which allows me access to the main amateur bands, 160m through to 70cm. As I talk to other amateurs it occurred to me that apart from having a radio that can do those bands, it turns out that there are amateurs who favour particular bands.

Of course, some of the preference for a particular band comes from having a suitable antenna since not everyone has access to space where you can put up an antenna farm or a large dipole to access some of the lower bands.

Those considerations aside, while real, only show part of the picture. It turns out that within Amateur Radio there are some who stay on their particular band, or sometimes even "their frequency" and are happy to do so.

Having participated in a few contests over the past year, I can say that talking to new and varied people on a variety of bands has given me much joy. I've now tuned across and spoken on most amateur bands, either with my own call-sign, or as a contest participant with a club-sign.

If you "only have access" to a hand-held radio capable of 2m and 70cm, I'd like to encourage you to find a friend with a station capable of using HF and spending a little time perusing the bands. And if you're a died in the wool HF participant, tune your gear to UHF and VHF once in a while, you might be surprised.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB