Hearing Mexico XE1JF tonight on 14.185MHZ Upper Side Band. Tecsun PL-600 w/10ft wire hanging out the window. Probably a seasonal thing because the sun is being stubborn and lazy.
Well, to an extent, yes that's true. We get more solar radiation in the summer months so the higher bands stay open a bit longer. They'll pretty much die out a hour or two after local sunset. If there was more activity from the sun, it would stay open even longer, but with recent predictions of a cruddy cycle next time around, I wouldn't hold my breath. Mike
I heard South Africa and Kuwait on 40 meters last Thursday night; I was kind of surprised as the band had been up and down quite a bit earlier in the evening right after dark.
I heard a Japanese operator working stations in the U.S. on 20 meters last weekend. I was testing a newly built End Fed Half Wave that happened to be horizontal and eight feet off of the ground at the time. I believe it was around 2100 UTC. Definitely some QSB, but mostly clear for a while.