HF DX condions?

trackerman

I've been off air for for several years, you know the story... got married, new house, kids arrived etc etc...

But before all that I was heavly into CW DX'ing, mainly on 10m, 15m & 20m.

I was just wondering what part of the cycle are we in now ?
Is there good activity on 10m nowadays, or are we in a quite lull ?

I sure do miss the long distance CW and would get back into it if conditions were good.

Thanks,
Trackerman

trackerman

Just read a post below that answered my question.....

We are in the lowest part of the cycle, oh well:(

watty

20m was very good a few weeks ago with 5W contact on 3m whip Ireland to NY USA 11pm. Also USA to Middle East stations in QSO 5/9 here.

17m is a good mobile band during day well into Europe still. 10m /6m DX rare at the minute.

trackerman

It's been years since I last keyed up but I still have fond memories of late night CW conversations on 10m. That was back when we had 5/9+ QSO's with USA and Aisa! Will we ever see skip that high again I wonder?

Back then I used a home made 3 element yagi and worked the world from the converted garage in my parents place. It was the best hobby I ever had.
But it's much harder now, two kids, long working hours and small gaeden!
It just impossible to get time for any hobby.

I might just hang onto the Ft757 for a while and set up a SW listening station on a long wire, you never know what might happen.

Cheers

watty

I've very little time either. When I'm away I and in Hotel carpark I connect a 3m whip (made from 6 Euro Lidl fishing pole) on a magmount and use my FT817 with Elecraft T1 Auto ATU.

I use TS180S in shack with 66ft end fed wire only 10 to 15ft above ground. Usable just at 160m and perfect on 80m to 10m with old homebrew KW107 style ATU.

Plenty of activity on 40M & 80m. Some on 160m. Often 20m is very good. 18Mhz / 17m is best during day for < 25W and 8ft or 9ft whip.

icom

Some nice propagation on 20 metres in the mornings, worked a couple of KH6's in Hawaii on CW today and R1FJL on Franz Josef Land, which hasn't been active for many years.

To see live Dx Spots you can telnet into the Dx-Cluster node in Dublin using:

telnet shandx.ath.cx 7300 and use your callsign when prompted to login

This will give you a good idea of what areas of the world the different bands are open to.

Also as your a CW man, you can listen to the beacons on 14.100 which will let you know how conditions are on 20 metres.
Here's info on their locations etc. : NCDXF BEACONS

icom

bminish

trackerman wrote:

Just read a post below that answered my question.....

We are in the lowest part of the cycle, oh well:(

It's not that big a deal, sure 10,12 and 15m are not as lively as at the peak but there's still plenty of good propagation on 17m and below, also 15m is open most days just not that busy, this weekend for example there is a cw contest on so you'll hear plenty of activity on 15.
at the bottom of the cycle the lower bands (20m and down) play well, 30M is in fine form, open to somewhere 24 hours a day and 40m is less EI-G and more DX.
160m, if you have the space thrives on low sunspot activity and has been in excellent shape the last few years.

I have worked DX this year on all the HF bands and 6m, admittedly the openings on 15m and up are fewer but they are happening, at this time of year 12m 10m and 6m get lots of nice sparodic E openings.

I operate almost exclusively CW and so far this year I have made over 3,000 QSO's and worked lots of nice DX

Come on in, the water is fine!

73
.brendan ei6iz

trackerman

Thanks for the encouragement Brendan, I'm a bit stuck for space these days, builders of new houses don't give big gardens away like the used to.
Whatever I erect will need to go on the rooof, no space for long wires or even a 20m dipole. The best I could hope for is a triband yagi and some sort of mono-pole or whip on top.

I'll sleep on it for a while, I've got a lot of irons in the fire.

Ray

bminish wrote:

It's not that big a deal, sure 10,12 and 15m are not as lively as at the peak but there's still plenty of good propagation on 17m and below, also 15m is open most days just not that busy, this weekend for example there is a cw contest on so you'll hear plenty of activity on 15.
at the bottom of the cycle the lower bands (20m and down) play well, 30M is in fine form, open to somewhere 24 hours a day and 40m is less EI-G and more DX.
160m, if you have the space thrives on low sunspot activity and has been in excellent shape the last few years.

I have worked DX this year on all the HF bands and 6m, admittedly the openings on 15m and up are fewer but they are happening, at this time of year 12m 10m and 6m get lots of nice sparodic E openings.

I operate almost exclusively CW and so far this year I have made over 3,000 QSO's and worked lots of nice DX

Come on in, the water is fine!

73
.brendan ei6iz

ei6il

Hi Folks,
Before I was lucky enough to move out to a country location I lived in a concrete jungle with a small garden and had great success working over 200 dxcc entities using an MA5B minibeam which I picked up secondhand.
Although not the best antenna in the world it did the trick for me.
Tune for flat SWR on 5 bands, no need for atu. 5-100 watts and off you go. Any Q's from curious neighbours and tell them its a TV aerial.
I used a Yaesu FT990 approx 100 watts, MA5B antenna and Create Rotator.
Pay particular attention to good quality co-ax,good RF connectors, good solder job, good earth and TVI wont be an issue.
As suggested previously the DX beacons are a great aid to propagation.
Dust off the morse key and the world will be at your finger tips.

Kind regards,
Don EI6IL

experimenter

It would be great to have more activity from EI. How about checking out whether there's a Radio Club in your area!

There's loads of DX to be worked on HF, although I am a 10Mtrs and above VHF/UHF/SHF guy myself I do have 326ft of wire in the air which allows me to be active on all bands..

Some massive signals on 160Mtrs during CW WW contest, and managed to fill the log.

Start small, and I am sure your interest will get the better of you.

Best of luck Tracker Man.

EI

watty

I've had contacts as far as USA, South Africa & Qatar on 80W FT101ZD (dual valve output) and 66ft of little better than end fed washing line 10ft above ground.
I've listened to Orkney station with a 6ft whip in the living room on 160m.

Being outside town helps a lot though. Even mobile in the car I can hear the 50.050MHz beacon on Hill of Allen around Limerick, but only outside the city.