Skip in Northern ILL.?

[rhalld38]

I have been looking at the posts here and mostly I see Texas getting all the skip. Any one could suggest or know if maybe skip would head up this way? Also does the skip come in strong late at night or in the early morning hours.

[DELCOLHFC]

I use this site to help with predicted increased skip traffic in my area, it's proven to be pretty accurate for me.
Tropospheric Ducting Forecast for VHF & UHF Radio & TV
I find it to be most active late at night and early morning but have picked up some good long distance comms on a handheld during the day when the map colors are getting closer to the red.
I hope this helps some.

[fineshot1]

Here is another good web site for vhf/uhf DX propagation reports

V-UHF QSO real time maps

[jim202]

Skip can occur just about any time day or night given the right conditions. Many band openings
take place and no one is aware of it. Case in point is the 6 meter ham band. There are a pile
of repeaters around the country. Some are tone squelched on the input and some are carrier
controlled. The band opens up and no one is listening. You can key up on many of the channels
and have a repeater come back. Give a call and no answer. Even in the evening hours it is
not uncommon for the band to open up. Make some calls on the unknown repeater your
hearing and you get nothing.

So don't fret that your not getting any skip. My bet is that it's there, but that there are
no stations transmitting to indicate the band has skip going on.

Jim

Originally Posted by rhalld38

I have been looking at the posts here and mostly I see Texas getting all the skip. Any one could suggest or know if maybe skip would head up this way? Also does the skip come in strong late at night or in the early morning hours.

[SOFA_KING]

Originally Posted by fineshot1

Here is another good web site for vhf/uhf DX propagation reports

V-UHF QSO real time maps

This is a good tool, but not as good as my scanner programmed with all of the low band police and fire frequencies. I "spot" more than the hams do! I just posted my file on this forum for anyone with a new GRE or RS/GRE to download. Instant band opening identifier! Last night at 1:30 AM I was still hearing skip (29.62 KQ2H repeater in NYC). This morning I started hearing MD state police and now I'm hearing NC and TN. It is shaping up to be a really good day. There is no reason you can't get as much skip as I do. You need a good receiver, low band tuned antenna (important), and a quiet noise floor...yes low noise from computer devices and powerline noise. And E skip is not an early morning / late evening thing. It is an all day thing. Oops, now MO is coming in! There is MA! The band is about to explode! Start listening now!

Phil

[nd5y]

Originally Posted by rhalld38

I have been looking at the posts here and mostly I see Texas getting all the skip. Any one could suggest or know if maybe skip would head up this way? Also does the skip come in strong late at night or in the early morning hours.

What kind of antenna do you have? Unless you have a big antenna cut for low band that is outdoors and/or away from all noise sources you probably won't hear very much low band skip. It tends to happen most often late morning and around sunset in the late spring and summer.

For more info on sporadic E skip see

Sporadic E propagation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Propagation: sporadic E skip (Es)
Mid-Latitude Sporadic-E (Es) - A Review

The tropo maps at Tropospheric Ducting Forecast for VHF & UHF Radio & TV are useless for predicting Sporadic E skip. Tropo is totally different.

[rhalld38]

I don't think it would do much good to pick up skip on a mobile scanner antenna that is outside my window but that is what I got. And sometimes I just switch to a rubber duck antenna and over to my RH77CA. I did read where someone did pick up skip on a rubber duck antenna.

[217]

Unless you have a big antenna cut for low band that is outdoors and/or away from all noise sources you probably won't hear very much low band skip.

Huh?

1/2 wave over 1/2 wave jpole @ 160.000
5/8 wave over 1/2 wave over 1/2 wave experimental jpole @ 453.000
RS rubber duck from the late 80's.

All receive skip on my end. No low band antennas here.

[mancow]

I basically made a scaled up version of the radioshack 20-176 groundplane and it works amazingly well. It doesn't need to be fancy or pretty. Mine is made from pieced together (zip tied) overlapped stainless whips and the center element is just wire. It hangs from a tree branch from the center element and is fed with 75 ohm TV coax. I heard the entire Continent yesterday with it.