Glad you brought this subject up.
I'm VKS737 Mobile 3748.
I absolutely love the service this organisation provides, and can't speak highly enough of the operators. I always give them a call when I go camping and sometimes call them when I'm doing local things.
When I was in the Navy, HF radio was my 'bread and butter' It can be challenging, but when you hear the operator talk back from miles and miles away, it's a great feeling. They have 2 skeds a day and it's good to find out where other members are and what they're doing.
I normally go through Meekatharra - in the middle of WA, for all my radio skeds. When down south, near Albany WA, I've gone through Adelaide - mostly got through on the first call.
I also subscribe to HF Tel. It costs me $13 a month and I get 10 mins worth of free phone calls. You have the option of continuous subscription or connect/disconnect when you want. I found it more convenient to pay for 12 months, and know it's available 24/7.
Even though I've got a mobile phone with external aerial, I find it more re-assuring to have Plan B in place.
If anybody subscribes to VKS 737, please feel free to give me a call. I have my HF radio turned on 'scan' mode when ever I'm on the move.
The general rule is high frequencies during the day and low at night.
Catch you on the airwaves. Mobile 3748.
If you see a vehicle with a big thick aerial base with a fibreglass or wire 'whip' aerial, it's probably a HF radio. They come in different size and shapes.
and can be manually tuned (get out of the car and change plugs) or auto tuned (automatically tune the aerial for you). Here's my auto tune on the front left of the bull bar.
Take care out there.
Rossco