Operating on HF

A General license adds privileges on every amateur band from 160 to 10 meters, though not on every segment of each band (47 CFR 97.301(d)). HF operating has its own habits. Some are FCC rules and many are conventions, and this guide says which is which. It covers the ones you will use in your first weeks on the air. The band chart shows exactly which segments your license class may use, and How radio signals travel explains why bands open and close.

Which sideband to use

Single sideband (SSB) is the usual HF voice mode (General pool question G2A05). By convention, operators use lower sideband (LSB) below 10 MHz (160, 80/75 and 40 m) and upper sideband (USB) above 10 MHz (20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 m) (Ethics and Operating Procedures). The General question pool gives the reason for LSB on 160, 75 and 40 m as “commonly accepted amateur practice”, not a rule (G2A09). Following it means the stations you want to talk to can hear you.

The exception is 60 m, where the ARRL band plan lists USB phone on the channels (ARRL band plan; see the 60 m section below).

An SSB signal spreads about 3 kHz to one side of the frequency your radio displays: above it on USB, below it on LSB (Ethics and Operating Procedures). Near a band or segment edge, that matters. On 20 m, for example, a 3 kHz USB signal with the dial at 14.347 MHz occupies 14.347 to 14.350 MHz, right up to the band edge, so any higher setting spills past it (General pool question G4D09).

Finding a clear frequency

No one owns a frequency. The rules say each operator must cooperate in selecting channels and that no frequency is assigned for the exclusive use of any station (47 CFR 97.101), a point the ARRL repeats on its Considerate Operator page.

Before you call, listen. If the frequency sounds clear, ask, “Is this frequency in use? This is K1ZZZ” (Ethics and Operating Procedures). On CW, send “QRL?”, the Q signal for “Is this frequency in use?” (ARRL glossary). Ask even when you hear nothing: a station in your skip zone may be using the frequency, too close for a sky-wave path to you and too far for ground wave, and the station it is talking to may hear you and answer (Ethics and Operating Procedures). If nobody replies after you ask twice, go ahead and call.

Band plans are voluntary divisions of a band that keep incompatible modes apart (ARRL band plan). For example, the ARRL plan lists 14.070 to 14.095 MHz for RTTY on 20 m and 14.286 MHz as an AM calling frequency. FCC segment limits are law; a band plan is a voluntary guideline for sharing within them (Technician pool question T2A10).

Calling CQ and answering

“CQ” means calling any station (ARRL glossary). A good phone CQ is short, gives your call sign two to four times, spells it phonetically once or twice, and ends by saying you are listening (Ethics and Operating Procedures):

CQ CQ, this is K1ZZZ, Kilo One Zulu Zulu Zulu, calling CQ and listening.

Several short CQs work better than one long one. Do not end a CQ with “over” or “QRZ”: there is no one to hand it over to yet, and no one has called you (Ethics and Operating Procedures).

To answer, give the other station’s call sign and then yours, phonetically if conditions are poor: “K1ZZZ, this is W7ZZZ, Whiskey Seven Zulu Zulu Zulu.” Then exchange signal reports, names and locations (Ethics and Operating Procedures), and keep identifying at least every 10 minutes and at the end of the contact (47 CFR 97.119). The phonetic alphabet tool helps with spelling.

A call of “CQ DX” asks for long-distance stations, which on HF means stations outside the caller’s own continent or in countries with very little amateur activity (Ethics and Operating Procedures). If you are close to the station calling, let distant stations answer: for a station in the contiguous 48 states calling CQ DX, the General pool’s answer is any station outside the lower 48 (G2A11).

Signal reports

Reports use the RST system: Readability (1 to 5), Strength (1 to 9) and, for CW, Tone (1 to 9). On SSB only R and S are used, so a strong, clear voice signal is “five nine” (ARRL glossary; Ethics and Operating Procedures). Reports usually come at the start of a contact so each station can operate according to the conditions (General pool question G2D11). The reference page has the full RST scale and common Q signals.

Logging and QSL cards

Keep a log of every contact: date and time in UTC, band or frequency, mode, call sign and reports. The time tool converts local time to UTC. A log lets you confirm contacts for awards, and it helps you reply if the FCC asks about your station (General pool question G2D08). If you use 60 m with an antenna other than a dipole, you must keep records of its gain (47 CFR 97.313(i)).

A QSL confirms a contact (Ethics and Operating Procedures). Options include:

• Paper QSL cards, postcards that confirm a contact (ARRL glossary), mailed directly or through a QSL bureau (Ethics and Operating Procedures).
• Logbook of The World (LoTW), the ARRL’s web database where you submit electronic logs, receive confirmations (QSLs), and use them as credit toward awards (ARRL).
• eQSL.cc, which calls itself “The Electronic QSL Card Centre”.

Confirmations add up toward awards such as DXCC, which requires confirmed contacts with 100 countries.

Contests and field activities

In most contests, stations try to make as many contacts as possible in a set period (Ethics and Operating Procedures), sending only the minimum information needed for identification and the contest exchange (Technician pool question T8C04). Normal FCC identification rules still apply (General pool question G2D09). The WA7BNM Contest Calendar lists upcoming contests and their rules.

• ARRL Field Day is held on the fourth full weekend of June each year, with clubs, groups and friends setting up temporary stations (ARRL).
• Parks on the Air (POTA) is a program for portable operation from national and state or provincial parks. Operators take a radio to a park to “activate” it, and others “hunt” those activations.
• Summits on the Air (SOTA) is an award scheme that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas.

DX etiquette and split operation

A rare station often draws a crowd of callers, called a pileup. The ON4UN and ON4WW guide gives the core rules (Ethics and Operating Procedures):

• Listen first, and keep listening until you know how the DX station is operating.
• Give your full call sign, not part of it, and use standard phonetics.
• Follow instructions. If the DX station asks for one region or one call-sign number, everyone else waits.
• When the DX station answers someone else, stop calling. Do not “tail-end” by calling over the end of another station’s contact.
• Keep the exchange short: confirm your call, give a report, say thanks.

To handle a large pileup, a DX station often works split: it transmits on one frequency and listens on another, announcing something like “up 5” or “listening 14.200 to 14.225.” Set your radio’s split function so you receive on the DX frequency and transmit where the DX station is listening. Split operation keeps the callers off the DX station’s transmit frequency, so they no longer cover its signal (Ethics and Operating Procedures).

60 meters in 2026

The 60 m band changed on February 13, 2026 (91 FR 1405; ARRL). General, Advanced and Amateur Extra licensees may use it (47 CFR 97.301). Amateurs are secondary users (ARRL): you must not cause harmful interference to the fixed and mobile services that share the band and must accept interference from them (47 CFR 97.303(h)).

The band now has two parts: four channels and a 15 kHz segment (47 CFR 97.303(h); 97.307(f)(14); 97.313(i)). The USB dial frequencies are 1.5 kHz below each channel center, as explained below, and match the ARRL band plan (ARRL band plan).

The ARRL band plan adds two operating notes: only one signal at a time on each channel, and the 15 kHz segment only supports multiple users at low power (ARRL band plan).

The old channel at 5358.5 kHz is gone; it now falls inside the 9.15 W segment (ARRL). Before the change, amateurs had five channels, including 5358.5 kHz (91 FR 1405), so study material written before 2026 may still describe five channels. The NCVEC removed the two General pool questions affected by the change, G1A04 and G1C09 (ARRL news), so the General practice exams on this site do not include them.