Propgtn Conditions improving? Perhaps....

[majoco]

Had a quick band scan last evening about 0900UTC/2200local - lots of good signals in the lower frequency bands especially Shannon 5505 and RAF Volmets on 5450kHz. Plenty of activity in the 90, 75 and 49 metre tropical bands too, I'll have to have a proper session soon although I'll be away for a while. Have a great Christmas everybody, hope Santa brings you lots of goodies!

 

[iMONITOR]

Thanks majoco, hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas also!

 

[millam]

I thought maybe yall could answer my question. I am a listener, not a talker. I listen to almost
anything that I can monitor. My question is this, is my antenna bad or is the sunspot cycle so
bad that I can't hear cb or 10 meters anymore? I have a beam on a tower and I have bad knees
so I can' climb anymore to check the connections. Vhf, Uhf, 800 also seem to be down to but not
much. No skip anymore it seems. I use sdr's and the lowest freq I can hear is 24 megs. I've tried
a discone at about 10 feet with different coax and did not hear any hf. Different sdr too.

Mil

 

[majoco]

My HF antenna is more or less broadband but it's performance has always fallen off above say 20MHz - although sometimes when propagation was better I could hear the CB from the US on skip. Nowadays and for about the last four years - absolutely nothing!

 

[millam]

Brings back memories when I used to have a hf antenna. Gander, New York, New Orleans and 1 in the
Caribbean or South America somewhere. The numbers stations and religious stations. San Juan seems
to be in my memory. Like you said a few years ago I could copy 10 meters, I'm in Alabama, the west coast
after dark, Japan. Also Europe when skip was running. I just googled sun spots and it maybe a while till
we get to some days with a lot of spots. I'm tired of listening to the police and business's around here.

Thanks again,
Mil

 

[WA8ZTZ]

A discone is not much of a HF antenna but give ships, trains, planes a try on VHF if you want some variety.

 

[Boombox]

I haven't heard anything on 11 meters Sideband or 10 meters in over two years.

I don't monitor those frequencies every day, mind you, but I do tune them from time to time. Zilch.

The only time I heard activity on 15 meters was during a contest about a year ago, and there wasn't much activity at that.

 

[millam]

I connected my RSP2 back up and I can hear some cb ssb calls. I also can hear the time hacks on
5, 10 wwv and chu on 14670 kc. As far as ships, trains and planes go, I have about 400 freqs in my
aviation spreadsheet, about 20 train (almost nothing heard now) and a couple of weeks ago I
was just looking and I saw data on the AIS, vhf ship location data, and I am 90 miles from the Gulf
of Mexico. Like yall said above 20 meters and below vhf is dead till the sun starts up its activity again.

Thanks,
Mil
Almost forgot, I watch airplanes transmitting on ADSB. I live close to Fort Rucker and I can see on
the average about 5-10 helicopters at any time during the day.

 

[KB4MSZ]

I was away from Ham radio for 30 years, returned at the end of 2017. I hear a lot of the older Hams commenting on how this is the most flat bottom solar cycle they have ever seen and I agree. There is still some sporadic E at spring and fall, this past Wednesday was wide open on 12, 11, 10, and 6 meters. Some stations on 10 meter FM where full scale on my radio. Hopefully this will start improving later this year.

 

[iMONITOR]

A discone is not much of a HF antenna but give ships, trains, planes a try on VHF if you want some variety.

If it's a TITAN MISSILE DISCONE it is!

 

[TailGator911]

This is funny - years ago I used to hear a bunch of guys (and a gal now and then) using CBs (11m) while they were doing some kind of military maneuvers out in the woods here east of town. Now and then they would identify as the Ohio State Militia or something like that. Then they were silent for quite a while. I just found them again back in November now using GMRS and FRS radios. I'd say they invested in some 'tactical' Baofengs lol. Interesting listening, tho.

10m is picking up here lately, and I am able to hear most hurricane nets in the Caribbean when active, just using 40-ft wire and end-fed PAR tied to a tree and my mast at 30-ft high. Good results for American shortwave broadcasts (religious & music), but I have yet to hear N Korea or Russian radio or any Middle East stations which I scan for now and then.

JD
kf4anc

 

[KB4MSZ]

As a teen I visited the transmitter and receiver sites at MacDill Air Force base. Amazing installation. They had inverted discone antennas that where huge. I wonder if they are still there, or even if they have a need for HF anymore.

 

[majoco]

I wonder if they let SWLers listen on it too.....

Ham Radio Operators | Titan Missile Museum : Titan Missile Museum

.....although the museum is probably closed in the evening after dark