in all my years in Amateur radio, I have never seen conditions this bad as they are now in the last year. In other past years when there was a solar minimum , 20 meters was open to somewhere , but we didn't have 30,17 and 12 meters, but this minimum REALLY SUCKS!!! 20 meters is the worst I've ever seen it and the other low bands, my FT8 indications on 30 and 40 meters shows a ton of dx, but you couldn't split this dx with H bomb! Maybe it's time to take up bingo and ice fishing.
Yes, there are good days and bad days. I remember the good ol days of the 70's. 200 hr rate into JA on 10 meters on any given Contest. 20 mtrs 10 levels deep 24/7. Even at the bottom of the cycle there's plenty of DX to work on any contest weekend. Why is it the bands come alive on a Contest weekend?.......Hmmmmm, maybe they are open and you have been told that the conditions are lousy, so you don't bother? There's always something to work, CME spikes, sporadic E's, etc etc. It's open you just have to dig a little deeper. I'm not into digital, but I hear digital TXs every time I go by the alien port on most bands!..... Propagation is like the WX. If you sit on the sidelines in your house all safe and warm, you'll never get wet. I'm looking forward to improving conditions. Can't get any worse!......
Where do you get this crap we are in a Marauder Minimum???? Not even the solar scientists know that yet... Don't spread junk science that you know nothing about.... I have been ham since minimum between Cycles 22 and 23. Minimums back then were about the same as now. I seen graphs back then but conditions are the same. A year from now we will be sailing along. Maybe not 200-250 but at least 150s.
During every minimum, we get some wailing and gnashing about Maunder Minimum. Even if we were in a Maunder Minimum, we wouldn’t know it until we’re all dead, and then it would be named after someone else besides Maunder! Just hope that they won’t name it after you!
Fast rise, slow decline. Yep, looks about typical. I check the SFI and SN daily! Also solar wind rate.
Maybe you need a better antenna? I don't seem to have any problems and enjoy the hell out of the hobby with what's there.
Um... nobody comments about how in the original post, the graphic is just showing an exact copy of cycle 24 for cycle 25 ? How did this even make it to the news?
They didn't comment because they READ IT. There is a very good reason why I copied cycle 24. And it makes sense to everyone else. Including a retired NRL physics Ph.D., apparently... If you had READ IT you wouldn't be saying this. R-E-A-D. We should give you the COOKIE PENALTY! Now: tell us what the OP says about the reason for copying and pasting.... Read this bubbelah--- "The attached graph is a --ROUGH-- rule of thumb of what to expect for the trend, and when, for cycle 25. Because predictions suggest a similar PEAK value of cycle 25 to cycle 24, I superposed cycle 24 as a very approximate prediction for cycle 25. The black demarcation is Jan 2021." Newbies need to know that we are about to start 'climbing the escalator'. This is a visual way to show THEM where things are going--as a TREND. Not as a daily or monthly , super accurate, PREDICTION of values. This TREND predicts improvement of HF conditions over the next year. Not beginning two years from now, not 10 years from now: the TREND shows a less-than-year start to the improvement. The NEWS is that Cycle 25 has started, and Cycle 25 should be similar to Cycle 24 (GO LOOK AT THE LINKS). The TAKE AWAY is that we should be seeing improving HF band conditions in a year or less, based on the TREND. I would take that as good NEWS... OK? 73 Chip W1YW
Since August 2015 I have 212 countries worked and 205 confirmed with 5 watts and a wire using CW. While everyone was hanging around the DX clusters and praying for a miracle band opening, I was spinning the knob and making contacts . Spend more time on the air and less time on the computer . Even with the sunspot number as they are, the MUF seems to reach 18 to 20 mhz or better on many days. Of course there isn't enough ionization to keep 20 meters open after sunset like the good old days and the bands above 17 meters are closed but there are openings. As I type this, there is some contest going on and 20 meters is jammed band edge to band edge. They are ignoring all the gloomy predictions and getting on the air . I wish everyone would do the same.
Conditions really do stink. Now. We are not being jaded on this. Just factual. 2015 and 2016 were good to OK. The sky noise is horrible. It's not just a matter of MUF. The contest is ARRL DX CW. I am on it. I can multiplex my brain between computer and radio, apparently.
