NAH!!! THE GURUs have it "WRONG", my educated (GUESS) is we're heading into a "ONE-HUNDRED YEAR MAUNDER" (aka:NO SPOTS!!!) I've been licensed from "Cycles: 19 TO THE PRESENT, so it's never been as BAD as it has been in many hundreds of years of humans KEEPING TRACK of "SOLAR-CYCLES" to boot!!!
Not everyone can put up a tower and antenna as such for many reasons (I guess I could but don't spend that much time on radio to make it worth it). I did put up a directional HF multiband antenna for me has made a difference that i can generally work anyone I hear. I work DX on SSB on 20m regularly though the stations are generally less than 59 here (and obviously these are good stations). I look during morning greyline. This morning I just worked Vietnam on 40m CW for a new band and mode with a 50' vertical and matching unit at the base running about 500W. Looking at my log I worked the same vietnam station on 10m SSB in 2011. Definitely no chance to work anyone like that on 10m no matter what antenna you have these days. I am not so pessimistic about next cycle. In 2-3 more years we will have conditions like we were seeing in late 2011. I plan to put up a second tower with a 40/30 beam and a nine element LFA for 6m, but am waiting on signs of life. For now good with what I have up.
So far this Southern hemisphere Summer has seen 10m & 6m working across VK & ZL as well as some good conditions on 2m within VK & across the pond to ZL, so there is hope for you guys Stateside later in the new year. 73 de VK4KX, Bernie
It's better than no antenna! I get on average 6db lower report than I give on FT8. But given that it's easy to get up and working it's not bad. And even though it isn't specified for 6m it do have a decent SWR there, but I haven't had any QSOs there due to the lack of conditions and suitable counter-stations. I did hear some weak signals though.
Bonnie, respectfully, that's relative...is it not? 160 meters so far this season has been fabulous. And a lot of QSO's have been happening with FT8 that would not have been possible otherwise. And we have not had the significant solar storms that I remember during the last low in 2008-2009. So maybe we say the propagation benefits from active sunspots on those bands impacted most heavily by solar activity (higher bands) has seen the least enhancement since HF radio was invented?
Dear KA2FIR, UH? Well let me put it like this, "IF YOUR WERE ON 28mhz" during anytime (meaning 24hrs a day) working the "World" was VERY EASILY DONE BY RUNNING 10W AND A SIMPLE DIPOLE @ a height of say 18'!!! Now all's any of us can do is bide our time until a DECENT SPORADIC F-LAYER COMES ABOUT FOR LONG-HAUL DX!!! Or if you're really hard-pressed to work dx you can work the world ON dmr as well!!! And YAH I know DMR isn't the same as "Point-to-Point" HF COMM. but considering the CRAPPY PROP on HF DMR IS THERE TOO!!!
Glancing thru my vintage book "Physics of the Earth's Upper Atmosphere" last night, I found early graphical traces for noise levels measured at various latitudes. The further away from the equator; closer to the poles you get, the lower the noise floor across many parts of the spectrum, at a given time of day.Whilst up around the temperate latitudes, US, Europe, N. Africa etc, the noise-floor is much higher during the all crucial early hours (crucial for real early morning 'over the pole' type DX) I'm not sure if it applies to this argument. There are considerably many other variables.
Thunderpants. She's probably being used to turn the average mutt against the 'on the spectrum' and OCD types, as she admits she herself is. Pride too is equally for the young & gleefully exploited.
