Well, a dipole in the attic is not ideal for ten, but it has indeed been on and off lately. Why do you chose 15 over 20??
Yes, they can...and they do.I dont believe HOA's can ban ham radio antennas.
Well, a dipole in the attic is not ideal for ten....
Another way to tell if 10 meters is open: try 28.121 to see if you can hear digital modes such as PSK.If you want to know if 10 meters is open, listen between 28,200 and 28, 300 where all the CW beacons are. If you hear quite a few of them, the band is open. Lately, 10 meters has had a few beacons that I can hear, but conditions seem to be down compared to a few weeks ago.
Steve AA6IO
Based on my limited 1 yr of being on HF, similar to you on 20/15/10m with attic dipoles, 10m seems to be either on or off. When it's open, for what I can hear, mainly South American stations, come in incredibly loud and strong. 15m seem similar too. I usually hear more though on 10m when its open. 15m for me only seems to have activity during contests. 20m on the other hand in comparison with these two, there's always something going on there, and the propagation seems to open up more gradually, you hear stations coming in from a general area, and slowly you notice the areas you can hear move through the day.I've been working 20m also, but my int'l contacts have all been on 15m. I admit, though, that I'm brand new to HF. I just got my first HF rig last week, a Kenwood TS-480SAT. I can't have an outside antenna so I am limited to a three-band wire dipole I set up in the attic. It is for 10, 15 and 20 meters. I have been working 20m too, of course and I've made several contacts on it as well as 15. So far, though, nothing on 10m I'll keep trying.
The past 2 or 3 weeks 10m has not been open as much as it was in late winter/early spring was. In winter, I was talking all over the world on 25 watts from my mobile. I had stations from Great Britain and Germany almost pegging my needle. Today was only able to hear a few South America stations but weak.
Here is a good propogation map that will tell you what bands are open and when.
QSO/SWL real time maps - W2LN - 28