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[N1BBR]

Hello,
I've dug around here and online looking at the various ham web pages that predict band conditions.
I was looking for some source of info that would indicate predictions for expected band conditions in very simple terms such as:

poor, fair, average, good, excellent, etc.

I don't need to know what the SFI, of the SN, or what the A and the K indexes are.
I can get that from many sources.

I'm wondering if there is any kind of periodic email subscription I can apply to - that would provide this kind of info?

Any hints or suggestions would be appreciated
Sincere thanks
N1BBR 

[K0UA]

It is not that simple. I know you want things to be simple, but they are not. Upper bands can be dead and lower bands can actually improve.

[K0UA]

Along the line of humor:

[K0UA]

You can also see quite a bit by looking at DX summit for a while:

http://dxsummit.fi/#/?de_countries=United%20States&exclude_dx_countries=United%20States,Canada

It is fully filterable.  I always filter out the US and Canadian spots, as I have no interest in them, and I also filter out spots from all countries EXCEPT the US as I think this will give me more information centered on where I live. You can also select which bands you want or don't want. If you will watch it for 30 minutes you can get a pretty good Idea of how things are for the bands of interest to you.

[AC7CW]

I like VOACAP https://www.voacap.com/hf/ Once set up and using the Prop Wheel you have current conditions in a very nice format

[AA6YQ]

Propagation forecasts can be useful, but knowledge of actual propagation in real time is even better. There are two sources of such knowledge:

 1. The Northern California DX Foundation's HF Beacon Network - 18 beacons around the world that continuous transmit on 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m at 3 power levels. If one of these beacons is near a DX station your pursuing on the upper HF bands, you can in realtime determine the strength of an opening between your QTH and the beacon. Alex VE3NEA's Faros application

- continuously monitors 18 NCDXF beacons on five bands;
- automatically detects the presence of the beacon signals, even in QRM and noise;
- measures the signal-to-noise ratio, the QSB index, and the propagation delay of the signal;
- automatically identifies long path openings based on the signal delay;
- has a real-time display of band conditions;
- maintains a long-term history of beacon observations;
- generates signal charts at regular intervals in a form suitable for Web publishing;
- generates observation logs optimized for automatic analysis.

 
2. The Worldwide DX Cluster Network

DXLab's SpotCollector application maintains a database containing currently active DX stations reported by the DX Cluster Network. Appropriately filtering and displaying this information reveals both a needed DX station's operating pattern, and band openings between your QTH and that needed station. When I was chasing ZC4GR in FT8 earlier this summer, for example, SpotCollector generated this view showing all QSOs reported between stations within 500 miles of my QTH and stations in ZC4, 5B4, TA, OD, 4X, and SU - plotted on a bands vs time of day chart:



Combining this understanding of band openings with ZC4GR's activity pattern

- 15m: 11Z to 18Z
- 20m: 12Z to 23Z
- 30m: 15Z to 20Z
- 40m: 16Z to 21Z

led me to focus on 20m between 19Z and 22Z. I worked ZC4GR on August 14 at 2034Z. Ten days later, his LoTW confirmation was in hand.

[K3SF]

can try this site


http://www.hamqsl.com/solar3.html?fbclid=IwAR1Kt6L2o-ULKjVfPfbd1vay0FFsMB0cIbPpLdk_TsSYqiPLYDKoor4dMmY


yea...has lotsa data
but
a nice simple table
that shows by band ..poor...fair... good

cant be any more simple than that

and

if you want all the data
it is there too


Paul K3SF

[KF4SFI]

Propagation forecasts can be useful, but knowledge of actual propagation in real time is even better. There are two sources of such knowledge:

 1. The Northern California DX Foundation's HF Beacon Network - 18 beacons around the world that continuous transmit on 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m at 3 power levels. If one of these beacons is near a DX station your pursuing on the upper HF bands, you can in realtime determine the strength of an opening between your QTH and the beacon. Alex VE3NEA's Faros application

- continuously monitors 18 NCDXF beacons on five bands;
- automatically detects the presence of the beacon signals, even in QRM and noise;
- measures the signal-to-noise ratio, the QSB index, and the propagation delay of the signal;
- automatically identifies long path openings based on the signal delay;
- has a real-time display of band conditions;
- maintains a long-term history of beacon observations;
- generates signal charts at regular intervals in a form suitable for Web publishing;
- generates observation logs optimized for automatic analysis.

 
2. The Worldwide DX Cluster Network

DXLab's SpotCollector application maintains a database containing currently active DX stations reported by the DX Cluster Network. Appropriately filtering and displaying this information reveals both a needed DX station's operating pattern, and band openings between your QTH and that needed station. When I was chasing ZC4GR in FT8 earlier this summer, for example, SpotCollector generated this view showing all QSOs reported between stations within 500 miles of my QTH and stations in ZC4, 5B4, TA, OD, 4X, and SU - plotted on a bands vs time of day chart:



Combining this understanding of band openings with ZC4GR's activity pattern

- 15m: 11Z to 18Z
- 20m: 12Z to 23Z
- 30m: 15Z to 20Z
- 40m: 16Z to 21Z

led me to focus on 20m between 19Z and 22Z. I worked ZC4GR on August 14 at 2034Z. Ten days later, his LoTW confirmation was in hand.

Thank you for this information. I recently upgraded to general and have been looking for a place to start learning about propagation.

[AA6YQ]

Propagation forecasts can be useful, but knowledge of actual propagation in real time is even better. There are two sources of such knowledge:

 1. The Northern California DX Foundation's HF Beacon Network - 18 beacons around the world that continuous transmit on 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, and 10m at 3 power levels. If one of these beacons is near a DX station your pursuing on the upper HF bands, you can in realtime determine the strength of an opening between your QTH and the beacon. Alex VE3NEA's Faros application

- continuously monitors 18 NCDXF beacons on five bands;
- automatically detects the presence of the beacon signals, even in QRM and noise;
- measures the signal-to-noise ratio, the QSB index, and the propagation delay of the signal;
- automatically identifies long path openings based on the signal delay;
- has a real-time display of band conditions;
- maintains a long-term history of beacon observations;
- generates signal charts at regular intervals in a form suitable for Web publishing;
- generates observation logs optimized for automatic analysis.

 
2. The Worldwide DX Cluster Network

DXLab's SpotCollector application maintains a database containing currently active DX stations reported by the DX Cluster Network. Appropriately filtering and displaying this information reveals both a needed DX station's operating pattern, and band openings between your QTH and that needed station. When I was chasing ZC4GR in FT8 earlier this summer, for example, SpotCollector generated this view showing all QSOs reported between stations within 500 miles of my QTH and stations in ZC4, 5B4, TA, OD, 4X, and SU - plotted on a bands vs time of day chart:



Combining this understanding of band openings with ZC4GR's activity pattern

- 15m: 11Z to 18Z
- 20m: 12Z to 23Z
- 30m: 15Z to 20Z
- 40m: 16Z to 21Z

led me to focus on 20m between 19Z and 22Z. I worked ZC4GR on August 14 at 2034Z. Ten days later, his LoTW confirmation was in hand.

Thank you for this information. I recently upgraded to general and have been looking for a place to start learning about propagation.

Congratulations on your upgrade!

These two books explain the physics behind propagation, which is beneficial to understand:

"The New Shortwave Propagation Handbook by W3ASK, N4XX & K6GKU"

"The Little Pistol's Guide to HF Propagation" by NM7M (SK), downloadable as a PDF here.

Practical propagation is covered in Bob W9KNI's excellent "The Complete DXer".

Much of DXLab's support for propagation analysis embodies knowledge gained from the above three sources.

[NB3R]

I use this website to help me plan my radio activity.

https://soundbytes.asia/proppy/