What's with the crazy e-skip this year?

[nd2023]

Seems like every other day there's e-skip on the FM band. The openings are strong enough to wipe out the locals. In fact at one time I had a 1000 watt station from Missouri wipe out a local class B. Why's there so much more e-skip this year than in years past?

 

[BobOnTheJob]

And it's going way beyond FM. Andy Bolin in Illinois got E-skip on channel 12. That's the first time in his 40 years of DXing that he's seen E-skip on VHF High Band at all, much less almost to the top of it. This is insane!

 

[audioguy]

We are now well into Solar Cycle 24, which is starting to affect E-skip propagation. Here is some information from NOAA:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/SC24/index.html

 

[crainbebo]

Prediction: We'll see July 6, 2004 clones this year. We already saw one w/ Andy in IL picking up Canadian High Prairies TV on CH 7-12.

-crainbebo

 

[kenglish]

Here in Salt Lake City (Midvale, UT), heard Spanish stations on about half of the non-local channels around 5:30-6:00 pm MDT.

Heard XHCTC-FM, 50 KW out of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Mexico on 99.9 MHz, with full RDS display. This was 890 miles, with a VHF TV Antenna aimed SSW, split two ways, to a TV tuner and a Sangean HDT-1X. At the time, all channels 2-6 on TV were coming in as well.

 

[gar hi]

I guess it depends where you are.

Here in Tampa, I've only seen two days with E skip events this season that I've noticed anyway and I've been constantly checking the DX Sherlock site so I don't miss an opening.

I was just thinking too about making a post saying how it's nothing like it was in the 70s and 80s when it seemed to happen so much, sometimes many days in a row in the summer.

I also was living in New Jersey so I don't know it that made a difference.

 

[MarioMania]

I only got 2 days here..Only on TV Channel 2

When is Northern Cailfornia going to have a Boom in e-skips, both on FM & VHF-Lo

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Here's a great way to see what's happening on 50mhz and 144mhz. Lucky folks in Europe have a 70mhz band that gives even better clues as to when E-skip is headed for 88 land. At this instant, there is skip out the wazoo on 50mhz from the USA to South America & Europe. Will it Reach FM?

http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&ML=M&Map=NA

 

[DM601]

Busiest year for the past several in south central Tennessee. KNEB-FM in Scottsbluff, Neb., is becoming as familiar as a local. Seems like we get that area over and over.
Got 92.7 Jack FM in Glenwood Springs, Colo. around 10 p.m. CDT Friday, and openings to Mexico and South Texas at mid-morning and late afternoon Saturday (only identifiable stations were KAJA 97.3, San Antonio (verbal ID) and XHCTO-FM 93.1, Torreon, Coahuila ("Stereo Hits" RDS).
Like gar fla, I also remember really strong openings in the mid-1970s, frequently to Dallas and El Paso areas, New England (especially Boston north) and Miami. Most of Tennessee's reception over the past few years seems to be Plains states into southern Canada or Mexico.
And maybe I've missed something, but does it seem like there are very few loggings of New York City stations?

 

[w9wi]

We are now well into Solar Cycle 24, which is starting to affect E-skip propagation. Here is some information from NOAA:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/SC24/index.html

The solar cycle will have a dramatic effect on the F layer and shortwave, but the jury is still out as to whether it has any effect on the E layer at all. IMHO the evidence is stronger for a link to weather. (and even that link isn't very strong)

It just happens.

 

[musicman3355]

Unless I haven't been checking, I haven't gotten an E-skip here in So. Cal. The only thing I get is a tropo, stations from San Diego can be heard here during tropo conditions.

 

[nd2023]

Just had yet another e-skip day in NJ today. I have heard 10 e-skip openings so far this year, and I missed about 5 more openings. I put 92.1 (a blank frequency) as a preset just so I would know if there's e-skip if something pops up on it.

 

[gr8oldies]

If you are on Twitter, you can follow @dxrobot for 50MHz, "high muf" and 144mHz eskip alerts

 

[DJKraze]

Here in Salt Lake City (Midvale, UT), heard Spanish stations on about half of the non-local channels around 5:30-6:00 pm MDT.

Heard XHCTC-FM, 50 KW out of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Mexico on 99.9 MHz, with full RDS display. This was 890 miles, with a VHF TV Antenna aimed SSW, split two ways, to a TV tuner and a Sangean HDT-1X. At the time, all channels 2-6 on TV were coming in as well.

Are you sure you weren't picking up some of the many spanish pirates we have here in New Britain CT? ;D