Winter 40m HF in East Tennessee
When ice storms take repeaters and cell with them, East Tennessee operators with General privileges often fall back to 40m phone or Winlink. Winter daytime MUF favors lower bands for regional NVIS — not 20m DX paths.
Antenna and height
Keep wire antennas low — 1/4 to 1/2 wavelength high for NVIS. Use NVIS advisor and antenna calculator. A dipole between barn and house beats a vertical in many foothill installs.
Power and noise
100 W is plenty for regional nets; listen before you amplify local QRM. Log noise sources — LED dimmers, solar chargers, and cheap inverters show up more in winter ops when everyone runs backup power.
Nets to monitor
See East TN HF nets and Tennessee Phone Net references. Pair 40m Contingency with 2m mobile Alternate in PACE.
Shack starting points: first HF shack · G90 field base · Winlink troubleshooting.
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Winter HF starter gear
Portable or shack HF, wire antenna, power supply.
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