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Propagation outlook
- Thread starter QED
- Start date
PSK Reporter is your friend. I'm being heard in Australia and Japan. Not so much in Europe, which is nothing unusual for me in Arizona.
I just worked JA0XII on 20m FT8. He was varying between -2 and -9 dB S/N ratio and I was -13. This is typical for my 50 watts into a 40 foot end-fed wire with a 9:1 unun and radials cut for 40, 30, and 20 meters (I know I need to add more).
I don't know where QED is located, but the bands are NOT dead. At least not 20 meters.
I just worked JA0XII on 20m FT8. He was varying between -2 and -9 dB S/N ratio and I was -13. This is typical for my 50 watts into a 40 foot end-fed wire with a 9:1 unun and radials cut for 40, 30, and 20 meters (I know I need to add more).
I don't know where QED is located, but the bands are NOT dead. At least not 20 meters.
When the bands get better in a few days, i'll hear 11mhz stuff from romania beamed to south america in my local afternoons and 11/13/15mhz stuff from france to africa in the evening.
We just had several years of "much worse." Unless you were using FT8, which was probably 80% of all HF activity during the sunspot minimum, other than during contests.
FT8 doesn't count, sorry.. An FT8 equipped receiver can pick up signals that the human ear can not hear. You can't even decipher it without the computer, it just sounds like a sick ice cream truck driven by a guy on acid.
It's useful for some, and I've read enough guys' talking about how great it is, but to me it's not the same as hearing CW or SSB from across the Pacific or over the Pole. Two different animals.
The prop is improving a bit. Some days are better than others. 20 meters has some CW and SSB activity. The Digital parts of the band are active, as they were before prop improved. 15 meters is mostly dead during the late afternoons / early evenings when I've checked it lately. Even during the most recent contest it wasn't very active. Even 11 meter CB is el-deado.
So we're not out of the woods yet, but getting there.
It's useful for some, and I've read enough guys' talking about how great it is, but to me it's not the same as hearing CW or SSB from across the Pacific or over the Pole. Two different animals.
The prop is improving a bit. Some days are better than others. 20 meters has some CW and SSB activity. The Digital parts of the band are active, as they were before prop improved. 15 meters is mostly dead during the late afternoons / early evenings when I've checked it lately. Even during the most recent contest it wasn't very active. Even 11 meter CB is el-deado.
So we're not out of the woods yet, but getting there.
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