If there isn't any decent propagation, then golf season is 43 days away. 8 months of whacking that little ball, winning golf tournaments,giving lessons, trying out a new set of clubs,then radio gathers dust, instead of log books,note pads with notes on radio contacts bench is filled with club making equipment, rule books on the game, handicap records. looking at all my trophies from past tournaments ( they gathered dust when propagation was good.) aaaaaah 43 mores days....I'll get my clubs out,wash the grips,take inventory on balls,tee's,ball markers,pens,deviot tools, score cards, etc.
I looked up what was published in QST. July 2009 page 68. International panel of experts predicted a peak of 90 in May 2013. July 2012 page 34. Marshall Flight Space Center predicted a peak in early 2013 of 36 to 90. We got a smoothed peak of 67 in 2012 and another smoothed peak of 80 in 2014. I thought conditions were pretty good, as I worked over 250 countries on both 12 and 10 meters. I don't trust supermarket tabloids as credible sources of news and science information. Zak W1VT
Perhaps the lack of sunspots will increase the usage of the bands above 50 MHz. So in a way, it could help us keep the bands that are at risk to 5G and such. Just a thought...
Too bad you can't get extra credit for making DX contacts in poor conditions....... I will add death and taxes to KA0HCP's list
You can and do: it's called personal pride in accomplishment. And you don't have to spend $12 or more to hang it on the wall to remind yourself or bore others.
[QUOTE = "N4UP, post: 5382623, membre: 539003"] Et pour certains d'entre nous, il s'agit simplement de prendre l'air et d'établir des contacts, indépendamment des taches solaires ou de la propagation. Quelles que soient les conditions, nous nous adaptons. Et continuez à établir des contacts. Ces jours-ci plus sur les bandes basses et moins sur les bandes hautes. C'est quoi que ce soit. Mon bonheur ne dépend pas des taches solaires. [/ CITATION] La sagesse brille dans cette réponse, Bravo, je suis optimiste...
Don't seem to have bad band conditions on a contest weekend or during a city wide power outage. Maybe the answer is closer to home with all the man made noise we're generating.
I have been a ham for 43 years and every time there's a low cycle but there is contest the bands always are alive. Maybe we need to get on the air and call CQ.!
As I have said before, some of it seems to be "Propaganda" and not "Propagation" .... we are told, over and over, how bad it is or how useless it is to try; so some just give up. However, along comes a major contest weekend and several bands are suddenly full. So, I am in total agreement with K9GLS above. I too certainly don't believe that 'Propagation' just happens to peak every time a big contest is running - Mother Nature is usually not that cooperative. The comments under his, by K0OWG and WB3HAK, are also right on target. Of course I realize that some bands are very weak right now, but lets not pronounce them DEAD yet, let's try a little CPR first. (CPR = CONTINUE to PERSEVERE with RADIOS)
Last night I worked VP8PJ South Orkney on 160 M with my 36' high Inverted L. VK9NK Norfolk Island on 80 with a 40 ft top loaded vertical at sunrise. Then BG2AUE China on 40M with a 30 ft high Half Square! New countries on both 160 and 40 meters with simple wire antennas. Zak W1VT
Just about every time I get on the air and send out my call (CW or SSB) I get a response within a few minutes and have a nice chat. I don't chase numbers or countries, so maybe that's why I'm not discouraged. I just like to talk with people and learn about their stations and lives. What concerns me is that 95% of the hams I talk to are older than me by a decade or more. So, I'm not as worried about the sunspot cycle as the SK cycle.
I have DX on 20 watts all the time. Tonight was stupid with the amount of stations I heard on 20m and 40m.
