skip placement?

[niceguy71]

hi Guys
I live in Massachusetts and I have a friend in N.C.
I thought I would try to talk to him on LSB he is a very popular YouTuber, MackinNC so I thought that would be really cool to have a video of it. we couldn't make a contact??? he was talking to a guy in Texas and I was also talking to a guy in Texas.. ( different guys ) but we could not hear each other?
well for the last few years I talk on LSB and hit Europe, Canada, Florida, Puerto Rico, Jamacia, South America, Mississippi, Louisianna, Texas, Colorado, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington state....
with ease....
thousands of times....

but I looked at my log book and I have never talked to NC or SC, NY, RI, MD and VA????
many times I hear people from the west coast talking to NY, ME, NH, Boston, or RI.... but I can only hear the west coast side of the conversation never those states around me or under me?????
I understand skip is just an arc and who knows where it will land..... but funny I have never gotten the states around me and under me ... it would be fun to talk to Eric from Far Point Farms or Mower Junkie.... but I have never heard them???? not once???
anything I can do to land my skip in new spots?
thank you.

 

[mmckenna]

There's often a gap between where the groundwave communications runs out and the skip signals come back down.

To fix this, you either need to look at other antenna designs, or have a remote transceiver.


NVIS antenna may be something to consider. It'll send more of your signal straight up and bounce back down to fill in some of the areas that your current antenna and skip cannot reach.

Back in my service days, they had a remote transmitter about ~500 miles away from the main site that was used to fill in that gap area.

 

[K4EET]

hi Guys
I live in Massachusetts and I have a friend in N.C.
I thought I would try to talk to him on LSB he is a very popular YouTuber, MackinNC so I thought that would be really cool to have a video of it. we couldn't make a contact??? he was talking to a guy in Texas and I was also talking to a guy in Texas.. ( different guys ) but we could not hear each other?
well for the last few years I talk on LSB and hit Europe, Canada, Florida, Puerto Rico, Jamacia, South America, Mississippi, Louisianna, Texas, Colorado, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington state....
with ease....
thousands of times....

but I looked at my log book and I have never talked to NC or SC, NY, RI, MD and VA????
many times I hear people from the west coast talking to NY, ME, NH, Boston, or RI.... but I can only hear the west coast side of the conversation never those states around me or under me?????
I understand skip is just an arc and who knows where it will land..... but funny I have never gotten the states around me and under me ... it would be fun to talk to Eric from Far Point Farms or Mower Junkie.... but I have never heard them???? not once???
anything I can do to land my skip in new spots?
thank you.

Try using the Voice of America Coverage Analysis Program (VOACAP) to determine the best HF band and time-of-day to achieve your QSO. The program is quite useful for what you are trying to accomplish.

VOACAP Online for Ham Radio

 

[K4EET]

Here is a quick Boston, MA to Raleigh, NC analysis:

 

[EAFrizzle]

Here's a video that explains skip zones pretty well, heavy accent notwithstanding.

As @mmckenna mentioned, anything inside that skip zone is going to be NVIS, which isn't a very common occurrence on 11 meters. There are some rare times when Texas opens up city to city, and everyone enjoys finally talking to the guys whose numbers they've been hearing from DX. Proper antenna selection helps to get the most out of NVIS, and it's a useful option to have.

 

[niceguy71]

There's often a gap between where the groundwave communications runs out and the skip signals come back down.

To fix this, you either need to look at other antenna designs, or have a remote transceiver.


NVIS antenna may be something to consider. It'll send more of your signal straight up and bounce back down to fill in some of the areas that your current antenna and skip cannot reach.

Back in my service days, they had a remote transmitter about ~500 miles away from the main site that was used to fill in that gap area.

as always Thanks Mmckenna

 

[niceguy71]

Here is a quick Boston, MA to Raleigh, NC analysis:

View attachment 196993View attachment 196994

very cool