I do a combination of 3 things , not aways in this order , but most of the time 1st turn the radio on Then while spinning the VFO , from one band to the next , I will use one of the spotting app's on my phone and slow down when near a reported spot . Thats 2 , so the 3rd is some nets I've used a lot in the past , as far as I know the OMISS net works the best , because they use most of the bands on SSB at different times and knowing many of the regulars , I know what to expect in there signal & location , to judge there propagation . One of the worst in the last 10 yrs. was on 20m yesterday , listened for about 10 min. only a couple of very week stations . I causally hunt & pounce DX these days , but have wondered if there was a work all DX nets , I would use those to help get a feel of propagation , then see what I could find on my own . Then there is contests / special events , I've alway joked that they seem to make there own propagation - but that is were just get on with calling , just do it . Any way you can find fun on ham radio , just do it
I think you may well be right Len. Today the conditions haven't indicated to be very good at all, but in reality the bands have been great.
We use –107 dBm (1uV) and –73 dBM (50 uV) as a starting point and assume a receiver has AGC headroom of about 20 dB. (Modern receiver AGC circuits are actually much better but we assume QRP designs with simpler circuits). Below –107 dBm (1uV) the band is considered dead. Above –107 dBm (1uV) and below –73 dBM (50 uV) is the amp needed range and above –73 dBM (50 uV) is the band open range. But these are just starting points. Each band is different. QSB and QRN levels change on each band depending on time of day and seasons. This is where 50 years of experience in radio comes into play. Each band is carefully adjusted to take into account all these variations. Please remember three things. First the standard is 1 watt - Dipole - 25 feet high. If your station setup is better than this, then things for you are slightly better than the website indicates. If your running 2 kw and Yagi’s then things are a lot better for you. Second – The 100 band index point is when a 1 watt station sounds exactly the same as a 100 watt station. The band might and often does get better than this point but it’s not shown past the 100. From a QRP’ers point of view, once you hit this point, anything above doesn’t matter. Third – I built this thing for me. I use it every day. My time is valuable to me and I really don’t want to spend it flogging a dead horse calling CQ on a dead band. If this info is useful to you, then I’m more than happy to share it and save both of use some time. .. or you can flog that dead horse until you burn out your finals ... Icom, Kenwood and Yeasu are always happy to sell you another radio. K5BIZ
I simply get on the radio and assess the band conditions myself. No need for an internet interpretation.
Well... yes and no... its possible to have propagation to different areas even when you cant hear wwv. But it's a pretty good general indicator...
Russia, Spain, Brazil, and Venezuela on 20 meters after midnight local time. The contest helps but the bands are not dead.
Current band conditions are not fantastic, on that I think we are all agreed but putting out a call on a supposedly 'dead band' wields surprising results sometimes.
How to Determine if a band is dead, I have one computer and my HF KenWood set up for sound card modes. I move the mouse and the screen wakes up, then adjust the RF gain, no traces change bands repeat. Send CQ on the last band I was using, then look at PSK reporter. I would never have made the contact with Australia using any other method. Right now there is one trace on 40m
I think SETI suffers from the same problem. Just think, SETI spends all this time listening, and if other possible alien SETI folks are also only listening (no CQs), then the same results - there must be no one out there or the band is dead.
