How do you guys check for E Skip Conditions?

[gar hi]

I'm asking because I haven't been able to log nearly the number of events as I'd expected and the same thing happened last year too.

Some here seem to get many openings and I don't know if it depends so much on location or just being lucky enough discovering them when they happen.

What I do is constantly check the DX Sherlock site and look for the Es clouds around 500 miles away with a high enough MUF for FM.
It beats the old way of just scanning the FM band.

I've lately noticed many such clouds around 600 miles away from my location but when I check the radio, there's nothing going on. Interesting because my first Es catch of this season was from 1200 miles away in Iowa and my first Es catch from last season (my best ever) was 1380 miles from Maine.

So is there some method of checking that some of you use that I'm not aware of?

The season is winding down and I at least would like to have one more Es catch this year.

 

[cd637299]

Sad to say, outside of Sherlock, there isn't much to go by. Tropo can be more-or-less predicted (see www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html ), but sporadic-E, not really.

WTFDA (the DX club) I think in the past has theorized on how to predict it, but I don't think there has ever been a true gauge.

All I can say is, check analog ch 2.....constantly. I think I've had E-skip even when Sherlock isn't reporting my area. (Anyway, hams would have to report contact for it to display, of course!) It always should start at ch 2, then 3, then 4 etc.....

If I am getting the slightest TV DX, if thunderstorms aren't around, I let my VCR run and do the dirty work! About 4 Fridays ago on a 6-hour tape I caught 5 different ch 2's.

Also, if you have a DX contact of "E-skip distance" who is getting DX from near your city, remind him/her to call you or alert you in e-mail.

Me, I check constantly anyway.

cd

 

[K6JHU]

One good way to start, if you have a scanner is to listen in scanning mode for the 6m (50 Mhz) beacons. Go to:

http://6mt.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=123

for a map and fequencies.

Set the squelch up just above the noise. When the e-skip starts you will start hearing the beacons. Then you know it may be time to start listening higher up.

By the same token if you want a guaranteed e-skip listen for the 2m beacons on 144 MHz. If they start coming in you have e-skip for sure.

With a good scanner you can probably listen for both 6m and 2m.

BTW, US 2m Beacons are lsited at:

http://6mt.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=123

 

[KR4BD]

For decades, I have used VHF Channel 2 as an indicator, but after the switch to digital, you don't see as many DX signals from the U.S. It takes a lot of signal for a digital DX station to pop through, but it does happen. In the analog days, you could literally see 4 or 5 stations battling for the channel at the same time. When that was happening, you knew things were poppin' and in my case, as a ham, you knew the 6 meter band (50-54 mHz) would be open. Caribbean, Mexican and South American stations are still analog, so if the skip is coming from those directions, you will see Spanish signals on channel 2. Canadian stations, in French and English, are also still possible to see in analog, but very soon (around August 1, I think), Canada will be turning their analog signals OFF...

 

[cd637299]

For decades, I have used VHF Channel 2 as an indicator, but after the switch to digital, you don't see as many DX signals from the U.S. It takes a lot of signal for a digital DX station to pop through, but it does happen. In the analog days, you could literally see 4 or 5 stations battling for the channel at the same time. When that was happening, you knew things were poppin' and in my case, as a ham, you knew the 6 meter band (50-54 mHz) would be open. Caribbean, Mexican and South American stations are still analog, so if the skip is coming from those directions, you will see Spanish signals on channel 2. Canadian stations, in French and English, are also still possible to see in analog, but very soon (around August 1, I think), Canada will be turning their analog signals OFF...

August 31....but I was a little selfish---I wasn't thinking much about domestic (US) FM or TV DX. I enjoy these foreign signals....

But you're right; to hear FM or see TV DX via Es for the USA only, ch 2 would not be much of an indicator! (I got some heavy FM DX this week from OK/AR/LA/TX, and no signal on 2 was to be found!)

cd

 

[kenb]

Good conditions today (Fri 9/15/11) in the Las Vegas valley... At 93.7 FM. I have been listening to overlapping stations most of the afternoon. When it happens, you'll hear different music styles or commercials that are running and then a music bed rolls over it. Then, they fade out to dead air and then it starts over again.

I listened long enough to hear COUNTRY Y-93.7 Salina, Kansas and then 93.7 Mt. Vernon, Ohio. There were others, but they didn't stay in tune long enough.

 

[gar hi]

One good way to start, if you have a scanner is to listen in scanning mode for the 6m (50 Mhz) beacons. Go to:

http://6mt.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=123

for a map and fequencies.

Set the squelch up just above the noise. When the e-skip starts you will start hearing the beacons. Then you know it may be time to start listening higher up.

By the same token if you want a guaranteed e-skip listen for the 2m beacons on 144 MHz. If they start coming in you have e-skip for sure.

With a good scanner you can probably listen for both 6m and 2m.

BTW, US 2m Beacons are lsited at:

http://6mt.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=123

Thanks for the info but I don't have any lower frequency VHF receiver and I'm only interested in FM.

I sure miss the analog TV days up north when E Skip seemed to happen most every day from late May through July and much of the day too on channels 2-6.

I lived right near Philly but we had an antenna on the roof also aimed at New York and the stations were snowy but watchable during the day and much better most nights in the spring and summer, sometimes with local picture quality even without the 'lines' on the screen caused by co channel interference.

On the late spring early summer days, the lower New York channels would be completely wiped out by E Skip and quite often, it was from Florida in the late morning.

It was so cool to see and hear those rolling humming 'bars' across the screen when an Es was happening. (Back then, I didn't know what it was called or even how it happened. I just knew it had something to do with the upper atmosphere.)

Channel 2 from Miami was most common and it would sometimes have a clear picture for seconds at a time, even with just the rabbit ears. In the afternoon, there seemed to be a common pattern where the stations would come in from the lower midwest then the upper midwest and then sometimes I got them from the French speaking part of Canada in the late afternoon and early evening.

Digital TV is nice for picture quality but I wish they could have left us with the choice between that and analog TV as it had been.

 

[Darth_vader]

Every so often the CBC transmitter in BC on channel 2 pops out to say "hi", but not very often. Last time I got a visible signal off it was back in late 2009 (after KATU had already gone off the air.) My crappy rabbit-ears-on-the-back-of-the-TV setup may have something to do with that.

(Incidentally, use this link if K6's link won't work in your browser: http://www.k9mu.com/map/ . It's exactly the same map, but doesn't use frames.)

 

[crainbebo]

I use the TVFM Skip Log: http://dxworld.com/tvfmlog.html
to check for Es conditions. Speaking of Es I FINALLY got some skip, details in a new thread soon.

-crainbebo

 

[gar hi]

Thanks, crainbebo. I never knew about that one.

So after not being able to check for a while, I went to the DX Sherlock map around 3:30 this afternoon and I saw just what I'd been hoping to see, an Es cloud exactly half way between here and New Jersey and the MUF was 159 Mhz.

I ran to get the radio thinking I'm finally going to get some more Es catches and there was nothing. I checked every frequency and it was the usual either empty frequencies or the stations from central and southwest Florida.

I don't get it. Minutes later, it went down to 143 Mhz but still more then good enough for FM.

What I'm guessing is that the height of that Es cloud was either too high or too low to allow the skip to directly hit my area? Any other time I've seen an Es cloud at that distance, the FM band was lit up with E skip.

 

[spunker88]

The Sherlock maps can be hit and miss. I usually check the MUF clouds and the 50mhz paths. If DXers near me are reporting skip on 50mhz and the MUF clouds are near or above FM, then there is usually ES. Sometimes the clouds will be near but I hear nothing. Most of the time I just check the FM band in the morning and evening. This is how I discover most openings.

 

[nd2023]

In the car I have 92.1 as a preset, which has no local station on it. If there's something on it during the day, there's e-skip. If I'm listening to a local station while driving, I can tell if there's another station trying to come in because the stereo static increases, then I tune around. At home, I point the antenna southwest and listen to 92.9 for signs of activity. I also check http://dxworld.com/tvfmlog.html for e-skip reports several times a day. If there are a lot of reports, I turn on the radio.

Just last week I was in my friend's car and an e-skip opening suddenly hit. It was strong enough to fight the local station we were listening to. Every one of his presets had e-skip interference! I admitted that I was a radio geek who found it fun to identify all the stations that came in, and since none of the locals were listenable, I introduced him to DXing.

 

[gar hi]

I just checked the map and it looked like I could be able to maybe hear something from the midwest but instead, I briefly heard KLBJ 'The Rock of Austin' on 93.7.

It came in briefly a couple times but is now gone.

 

[milton77]

I use this site, in addition to the DX sherlock and a few things on Twitter... http://aprs.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/