Tichansky had a draw to 160 meters early in his ham radio career and was active in contesting and DXing on top band. When he moved to his current home, he was able to experiments with LowFER operation. When 630 meters opened to amateur use, he got straight to work. “It seemed like an unreachable goal at the time, but patience and persistence as well as gaining more and more of an understanding of the capabilities of the band over the years proved otherwise,” said Tichansky.

His transmit antenna system has been a journey in trial, error, and fire – he’s a member of what he calls the “Hall of Flames.” He says he “definitely learned that good quality insulators do make a difference.” After years of work and refinement of matching and loading techniques, his 67-foot vertical with 8 sloping toploading wires as a wire skirt over a large radial field have proven to be the ticket to success. “For reception, I have always used dedicated receive antennas which have included phased Beverages, a full-sized 8-circle vertical array, and various others like a terminated loop,” said Tichansky.

As news of the award achievement spread in the amateur community, even many long-time hams with little or no experience on 630 meters wondered how it worked. Tichansky says Alaska and Hawaii proved especially challenging. “(The states) were certainly a challenge, Alaska perhaps moreso. However, both locations had excellent resident operators and stations and through persistent attempts and the right conditions, two-way QSOs were completed. I have a few CW QSOs with K9FD/KH6 (SK) which still stand as the distance record on 630 for CW. I also have the overall distance record for a QSO with VK4YB via JT9 which took a long time and many attempts, finally finding success on a morning (US side) near the equinox,” he said.

Tichansky says there are several other operators right behind him, with WAS almost completed. In fact, ARRL Awards Branch Manager Sharon Taratula announced today that Edward Gray, WØSD, of Salem, South Dakota, has been awarded 630-meter WAS #2.

Most of the contacts on the band happen just like any other band, says Tichansky, from getting on and calling CQ or replying to one. Very few of his contacts on there were scheduled.

It takes an experimenter’s mind and a lot of patience to be successful on the band, but like with any other operating specialty, there is a community ready to help. “The 630-meter community is very diverse, but there are a number of members that come from particular backgrounds including microwave operations, EME, topbanders and other weak signal communications. The thing we have in common is that we are experimenters and enjoy a bit of a challenge!” exclaimed Tichansky.

He currently has a DXCC total of 17 on the band. Tichansky plans to contribute technical articles about operating on 630-meters to QEX magazine in the coming months. All ARRL members have access to QEX and three other high-quality publications digitally.