HF BANDS Open

[bearcatrp]

Storms went through late yesterday so decided to see how well HF would be doing. Wow, picked up allot around 8pm yesterday. Picked up 2 stations speaking french. Also a news station in the baltics. Since adding to my wire, am picking up allot more.

 

[RufusDawes]

Heard a Philippines broadcast station on 21.720 Mhz for about 10 min at dusk, then it disappeared, using the Drake R8A

 

[bearcatrp]

Tried yesterday evening before a rain storm came in. Had some much coming in that there was cross talk over others with close frequencies. Tried to pull one in using the pre amp on my DSP 2.4, had to turn it off as got overloaded from many stations. Tried .250 Mhz and below for giggles since I could never get anything befor I added wire. Getting allot now, plus bleed over from a close am station.

 

[EAFrizzle]

0340z RNZ Pacific 17675, S-6 to S-7, SINPO = 45554. Radtel RT-950 with 200' LoG. Earlier start to a good signal than most nights. 17675 and 13690 have often been weak or noisy, with best reception on 11725 and 9700 and an hour or so of readable signal on 7440 the past few weeks.

BBC 12095 @ 0400z has been getting better every night, moving back into a summertime favorite spot.

<÷>

If you enjoy DXing 10 through 15 meters, keep an eye on the bands when the huge lines of storms are moving through the middle of the country, especially late at night. The electrical activity can charge the ionosphere enough for propagation. Had a nice path open to the Carolinas until after midnight Thursday, once the line passed through here.

 

[Blackswan73]

0340z RNZ Pacific 17675, S-6 to S-7, SINPO = 45554. Radtel RT-950 with 200' LoG. Earlier start to a good signal than most nights. 17675 and 13690 have often been weak or noisy, with best reception on 11725 and 9700 and an hour or so of readable signal on 7440 the past few weeks.

BBC 12095 @ 0400z has been getting better every night, moving back into a summertime favorite spot.

<÷>

If you enjoy DXing 10 through 15 meters, keep an eye on the bands when the huge lines of storms are moving through the middle of the country, especially late at night. The electrical activity can charge the ionosphere enough for propagation. Had a nice path open to the Carolinas until after midnight Thursday, once the line passed through here.

13690 is coming in good with moderate fading and no interference. The female correspondent is talking with a female correspondent with the BBC. In northeast central Indiana. Radio is a Radio Shack DX-394b. I would like to use my Drake, but I am currently mostly confined to my lazy boy with a small side table that the 394 barely fits. I wanted a radio that will operate on AC voltage, so that eliminates most of my current radios except for the Drake which won’t fit on my table

B.S.

 

[pjxii]

0340z RNZ Pacific 17675, S-6 to S-7, SINPO = 45554. Radtel RT-950 with 200' LoG. Earlier start to a good signal than most nights. 17675 and 13690 have often been weak or noisy, with best reception on 11725 and 9700 and an hour or so of readable signal on 7440 the past few weeks.

Finally getting RNZ Pacific with a good signal here on 17675 tonight 0230 UTC. Admittedly not checking every evening but glad to hear it again.

Thanks Frizzle for keeping us updated, that's why I kept checking periodically.

 

[bearcatrp]

Do you folks scan HF during the day? Have tried a few times and pick up some stations but not like night scanning.

 

[EAFrizzle]

I haven't been for the past month or so, daytime has just been noisy here. X-ray flux seems to be increasing recently, with some periods of DX up to 11 and 10 meters. I get distracted with VHF and above just before daybreak, so HF is usually just monitoring HFGCS and such during the day.


As I'm typing this, I'm getting continuous notifications for solar radio bursts. This after a Proton storm earlier today. Hopefully this bodes well for daytime DXing.

 

[Blackswan73]

Early mornings sometimes, but in the summer not so much. The gray light path is usually where I listen and that is mostly evening and night here with the stations I listen to

B.S.

 

[pjxii]

Do you folks scan HF during the day? Have tried a few times and pick up some stations but not like night scanning.

Not usually due to time but actually this morning I tuned around the 16 meter band and came across Saudi Arabia on 17820 kHz with a YL speaking at about 1315z. Wish I had time to see if they played music, I really enjoy Middle Eastern music.

 

[EAFrizzle]

Good catch! Ifrikya FM is a good one for music as well.

 

[RufusDawes]

Thursday night about 1 hour past sunset on the left coast I could barely hear wwv 25 Mhz, but 20/15/10/5/2.5 all came in strong using the Kenwood R-5000 on a 250' skyloop antenna which has an average vertical height of 15ft (I live in a residential city neighborhood and can't get this wire much higher without getting dirty looks from the neighbors)... I read something the other day that the Canadian wwv at 7.85 Mzh is going to be shutdown in the near future

 

[TangoFoxCharlie]

Thursday night about 1 hour past sunset on the left coast I could barely hear wwv 25 Mhz, but 20/15/10/5/2.5 all came in strong using the Kenwood R-5000 on a 250' skyloop antenna which has an average vertical height of 15ft (I live in a residential city neighborhood and can't get this wire much higher without getting dirty looks from the neighbors)... I read something the other day that the Canadian wwv at 7.85 Mzh is going to be shutdown in the near future

Yes sadly CHU will be shutdown as of June 22. Canada’s CHU Time Signal Station to Shut Down in 2026

 

[pjxii]

Thursday night about 1 hour past sunset on the left coast I could barely hear wwv 25 Mhz, but 20/15/10/5/2.5 all came in strong using the Kenwood R-5000 on a 250' skyloop antenna which has an average vertical height of 15ft (I live in a residential city neighborhood and can't get this wire much higher without getting dirty looks from the neighbors)

The different frequencies that WWV broadcasts on have been a great tool in determining propagation. Am I mistaken or is 25 MHz the only one that WWVH doesn't use?

Nice receiver! I prefer to get an antenna up at least 15' if possible, I think that's been the magic number in my experiences.

 

[RufusDawes]

The different frequencies that WWV broadcasts on have been a great tool in determining propagation. Am I mistaken or is 25 MHz the only one that WWVH doesn't use?

Nice receiver! I prefer to get an antenna up at least 15' if possible, I think that's been the magic number in my experiences.

I'm not sure, but it sounds just like the others... You are right, when I start a SWL session I always hit 25/20 Mhz first to see if the propagation is good or not, if either or both come in then I take my time cruising through the SW bands , otherwise I will spend more time on the ham bands or AM BCB.

 

[Boombox]

I'm not sure, but it sounds just like the others... You are right, when I start a SWL session I always hit 25/20 Mhz first to see if the propagation is good or not, if either or both come in then I take my time cruising through the SW bands , otherwise I will spend more time on the ham bands or AM BCB.

My propagation barometers for the high bands are the CB Sideband Outband channels, as well as Channel 38 (27385). if 27455 has Spanish language, it means the 11 meter section is propagating to Mexico and Latin America, and usually that means 10 might be open. I then check the beacon section of 10 Meters.

WWV's transmissions are great prop beacons, though. Here in WA state you often get a mix of WWVH and WWV, and the mixture can give you an idea of propagation to the Pacific vs. propagation to the rest of North America.

For SWBC I just tune quickly through the bands. This far north, we don't seem to get as much a SWL's in the eastern parts of the US, or California. I think the latitude works somewhat against us.

 

[RufusDawes]

Since the SWL offerings are dwindling, I have added a quick pass through the CB bands 26.9-28 Mhz, sometimes can find amusing conversations!

 

[pjxii]

Since the SWL offerings are dwindling, I have added a quick pass through the CB bands 26.9-28 Mhz, sometimes can find amusing conversations!

I do that sometimes with the 80 meter amateur band in the evening for the same (vulgarity free) conversations.

 

[RufusDawes]

I do that sometimes with the 80 meter amateur band in the evening for the same (vulgarity free) conversations.

LOL for sure different crowd on 80m, takes a little more money to broadcast in that neighborhood than CB.

 

[TangoFoxCharlie]

Since the SWL offerings are dwindling, I have added a quick pass through the CB bands 26.9-28 Mhz, sometimes can find amusing conversations!

Channel 6 "The Superbowl"