33MHz Buzzing with Skip Activity

[DX-300]

Since the skip continues to be so persistent every afternoon so far including today at this moment, I thought I'd share this with the local scanning populous that here in Calgary with my Comet discone outdoor antenna right now I'm receiving alot of strong skip from EMS/Fire in the Eastern USA on these frequencies:

33.7050
33.7200
33.7400
33.7600
33.7800
33.8050
33.8200
33.8550
33.8600
33.8950
33.9350
33.9400
33.9600

 

[Jay911]

This might be still open.. I haven't tried searching true VHF lowband like you, but I have CB 9 in an "Emergency" favorites list on my HP, and it keeps popping up with Spanish sounding comms during the early afternoon.

 

[DX-300]

Interesting, I'll have to keep an ear out for that next time ... When the skip conditions are favorable, in the low 30s say between 30 and 32MHz I get Spanish taxis as well as a few between 35 and 36MHz range but unfortunately I can not readily tell where they are comming from but some in the Skip/Tropospheric Ducting forum have managed to figure some of them out

 

[BillW1]

In NYC there are low band taxis that are Spanish. Could be what your hearing.

 

[Jay911]

DX, school me on ducting. Is there a specific straight-line area I can expect to hear, or do LB comms from all over (omnidirectionally) just get better overall?

 

[DX-300]

I'm actually trying to figure that out myself as I am at an elementary level to this as well I'm afraid .

When I first heard this skip I got the impression that it was mostly restricted to propagating from East to West but it would appear from what I've observed this year that it can be an omnidirectional improvement overall as well, as I have heard replies to stations that have called Alaska from states to the south of us on 28MHz and I've also heard reports of radio operators getting replies from Japan on 10m.

I also found interesting and helpful to observe trends in solar activity on the NOAA site as well as watching updates on the "Space Weather and Radio Resources at HFR.org" page on Facebook. Their most recent post shows that there were 220 sunspots observed on Nov 9 which would have a very positive impact on skip as well, the last highest count of sunspots was recorded on Nov 1, 2003 when there were 277.One day we were hit with a heavy geomagnetic storm which pretty well brought all the skip I was receiving pretty reliably over the few days I was listening to silence on the day of the storm and when things settled the skip was back.

Right now as I type this the skip has returned on the LB and I have one receiver locked on CB channel 9 as well

 

[DX-300]

I just caught a conversation on 28.400MHz (USB) between VE6JMB from here in Calgary and W7UO from Tucson, AZ and interestingly the call from Arizona said he's pointed NE and not intentionally hitting this area!

 

[Jay911]

I've put my home-based HP1 (attached to a magmount which is on a sheet of tin on a high shelf in my shack) on conventional discovery from 25-54. I've been sleeping all afternoon because I work tonight, but I have heard plenty of clear comms. Some of note were two-tone paging, presumably FD or EMS.

Just now when I woke up I got 39.96 which was somebody talking about one of their staff being prevented from leaving "the property" and he'd be phoning the sheriff's office. FCC has a ton of licenses using that frequency, a large number in Maryland. I couldn't pick out the accent (it was light if anything).

Several more hits have come up on various freqs while I've typed this up, with CTCSS and DCS tones as well. Gonna be really entertaining to listen to the discovery logs later!

 

[DX-300]

I'm sure it will be interesting, it was pretty active earlier . Also, reading through some sources of information online it appears tropospheric ducting itself is more weather related than solar related. They describe "Skip" and "Scatter" as being solar related. Here is one source which makes me think that what we are hearing now based on my observations of solar interaction is skip or "Skywave propagation" which improves when the sun approaches solar maxima... Radio propagation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

[mtindor]

What may be helpful is to look at propagation on 10m at the time you are hearing these things.

QSO/SWL real time maps - NA - 28

If you visit that URL during the day when you're hearing things on 30+ Mhz, it could give you a clue as to which areas the propogation is favoring. Of course with the conditions so good, we know it's favoring Europe (at least from central/eastern usa but actually also from the western USA). If you're on west coast you're going to hear things I'm not hearin ghere. But within the US there will also be activity. It isn't likely to be omnidirectional, although it may be hearing skip from multiple directions.

Mike

 

[DX-300]

Thanks for that link mtindor . Right now there is a contest going on 28MHz and I received a station from Japan on 28.391 USB JA7NVF should be interesting to see if I can catch any others.

 

[Jay911]

Here's what I got from my log... well over 800 different hits, 60+ of them identified to an extent.

29.52	88.5Hz		(Hammy ops)
31.24	136.5Hz	Spanish	
33.28	107.2Hz	Midwest accent	
33.46	131.8Hz	"Holland" FD jaws training	Holland, MA
33.52	None	Black Canyon Drive & Grand Canyon Gate, 12:33	McKinney, TX
33.52	None	Trunk TG simulcast	Harris County, TX
33.56	None	EMS operations	Lancaster, PA?
33.64	103.5Hz		Montgomery County, OH
33.7	151.4Hz	Radio check for tower on McCarthy	Cattaraugus County, NY
33.72	None		Lancaster, PA?
33.78	82.5Hz		Allegany, MD
33.82	141.3Hz	unknown FD	
33.86	82.5Hz	FD tones	Licking County, OH
33.86	131.8Hz		East Brookfield, Worcester County, MA
33.9	None		Lancaster, PA
33.9	91.5Hz		Broome, NY
33.94	None		Hartford County, CT
33.98	103.5Hz	"male, elevated BP"	Muskingum County, OH
35.12	127.3Hz	Mercury Cab	Hamilton County, TN
35.36	123.0Hz	Paragon Ready Mix	Macomb County, MI
35.44	131.8Hz	Farm Supply Business	Cross County, AR
35.72	94.8Hz	Laughlin Trucking	Shelby County, IL
35.74	127.3Hz	"--ee four"	
35.9	156.7Hz	Brady Sand & Gravel	Lenawee, MI
37.04	127.3Hz	Smyth County Sheriffs	Smyth County, VA
37.08	DCS 114	Craig County Sheriffs	Craig County, VA
37.1	162.2Hz	Morgantown Utility Board	Monongalia County, WV
37.12	156.7Hz	FD tones	Madison County, AR
37.36	110.9Hz	scale ops?	Will County, IL
37.46	127.3Hz	Utilities	Jackson Marshall County, AL
37.7	131.8Hz	Utilities	Knox County, OH
39.24	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Allegany County, MD
39.28	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Calvert County, MD
39.34	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Washington County, MD
39.38	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	St Mary's County, MD
39.4	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Frederick County, MD
39.42	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Howard County, MD
39.5	131.8Hz	Bland County Sheriff's Office	Bland County, VA
39.52	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Carroll County, MD
39.54	100.0Hz	Clarke County Sheriffs	Clarke County, VA
39.6	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Berlin, MD
39.6	110.9Hz	Douglas Police	Worcester County, MA
39.68	None	Maryland State Police	Statewide, MD
39.72	100.0Hz	Giles County Sheriff	Giles County, VA
39.84	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Cecil County, MD
39.92	82.5Hz	Perry County Sheriff's Office	Perry County, OH
39.96	110.9Hz	Maryland State Police	Caroline/Dorchester/Talbot Counties, MD
39.98	88.5Hz	Greene County FD/EMS	Green County, NC
42.06	151.4Hz	Elkins Dispatch WV State Police	Statewide, WV
42.1	156.7Hz	Huntington Dispatch WV State Police	Statewide, WV
42.38	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.42	141.3Hz	Tennessee Highway Patrol	Carter County, TN
42.5	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.52	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.56	173.8Hz	DOC	Caswell County, NC
42.6	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.62	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.64	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.82	None	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.92	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
42.94	173.8Hz	NC Highway Patrol	Statewide, NC
46.5	110.9Hz	Columbia County Fire	Columbia County, NY

 

[freqs]

The skip you heard from Macomb Co Mi Paragon Redi mix is next to my dads house in Utica and I know a few guy's that work there and ill let them know you heard them from Alberta Canada

 

[awkwardmoose]

There was lots of ham activity this earlier this morning a bit lower in the 26.00MHz – 28.00MHz range (strong southern US accents and discussions about Mississippi area on 26.49MHz and Texas on 27.025MHz).

What may be helpful is to look at propagation on 10m at the time you are hearing these things.

QSO/SWL real time maps - NA - 28

Thanks for the link. Entertaining for sure.

 

[harryshute]

Over the past few days I have been listening to 29.620 NFM in New York State. They run some incredible power something like 13,000 or 130,000 watts from a mountaintop. I have added 29.690 in Black Diamond, Alberta to check it out during this skip season.