That is a tough question Felix but I will try.
To answer your question directly. North, West, South, East. Finland, Hawaii, Cape Town, Russia/Ukraine.
To better answer your question here goes.
Being able to connect with another station a lot of things come into play like,
> Type of sending/receiving (TX/RX) antenna. Along with that the height and general quality of the antennas being used.
> Power. Power is measured in watts and obviously more watts = greater distance. My radios TX no more than 100 Watts.
Some of my radios only TX at 5 watts while others can do 20 watts while my big radios can do 5-100 watts. Legally, you
can use up to 1,500 watts on most frequency's. An linear amp can be as expensive as a 100 watt radio though.
> Add to what I have already written, the sun plays a role in distance. The good news is, we are starting a 11-year positive
stint with better propagation each year up till about 2032 and then it will start it's decline once again.
With all that gobbledegook written, if you are primarily interested in comms within North America, all of the above still applies but a bit easier.
Looking at the TX/RX within the North, west, south, east within North America, I have had successful QSO's, Quebec, Port Harding BC, Los Angles, Texas, Florida and point in between.
Then we have three modes used within the ham radio community, Phone, Digital, CW (Morse Code).
CW will give you the best ability to have a QSO within North America and that is using minimum wattage. Typical CW QSO is done with 10 watts or less. The reason is that dots and dashes need less power to be slung from one antenna to another. It also is the least mode used so plenty of space to have a QSO.
Digital is great if you do not want to learn Morse code. I have had many QSO's with other stations using digital from the west coast on up into BC and Alaska. And of course within North America east of the Rockies. Digital is a bit more complicated than CW or Phone but with the help of a digital Elmer, easy enough.
Phone is what most folks getting into ham radio think about when talking about communicating. Yes, you can speak to other hams around the world and down the street but voice takes a bit more energy (watts) and with a lot of people, the vast majority of folks on the air, it can be a challenge finding a clear frequency at times. Add to the power, it becomes even more important to have a good quality antenna at the proper height along with the sun's propagation at your back.
Now that your eyes have totally glazed over with me answering your simple question, I do apologize. If I left something out or one of the hams on
UP wish to add to my dissertation please, go ahead.
