The 500 KC Amateur Radio Experimental Group Web site is the focal spot for the ARRL 600 meters experiment.

The March edition of QST is the annual antenna issue. Since I like reading about antennas, I found a lot of interesting reading in the new issue of the official journal of the ARRL. What really grabbed my attention was an article by Patrick Hamel, W5THT, about the ARRL 600 meters/500 kHz experiment and the antennas used at stations involved in the experiment (600 meters is the radio band abandoned by maritime and claimed by hams for experimentation).

After reading the story, I wanted more and sought out The 500 kc Amateur Radio Experimental Group Web site mentioned in the article. This site provides an excellent overview of the current status of the experiment and provides an easy way to provide a reception report for anyone who catches a transmission from one of the stations participating in the experiment.

500kc.com listed a link to another Web site that I checked out, the 600 Meter Research Group Web site of Ralph Hartwell, W5JGV, who is also the brains behind 500kc.com. Here you will find information regarding the nuts and bolts (and antennas) of the 600 meters test.

Searching the Internet for still more, I found additional interesting Web sites including The UK 500 kHz Experiment Web site of Dave Sergeant, G3YMC, that has some excellent information about the experiment, and the Keyboard Modes for 600 Meters Web page of John Andrews, W1TAG, that deals with data mode experimentation on the new ham radio band.

Until next time, keep on surfin’!

Editor’s note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, got his start in radio by chasing DX on a “low band,” i.e., the AM broadcast band. To communicate with Stan, send him e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin’ is indexed here, so go look it up.

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