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[N8FVJ]

How long a wait for 10 meters to be for the most part open everyday? I know little about solar cycles.

[W2UIS]

Cycle 25 began December 2019. A solar cycle lasts 11 years. The the best years for this cycle will be 2024-2025. Ten meters is always open for local contacts. DX contacts will be random but will occur. Monitor 28.400 and call CQ from time to time. According to today's forcast there will be no solar activity for the next 24 hours.

[AC7CW]

VOACAP https://www.voacap.com/hf/, once set up, using the prop wheel and the map will tell you what's open at any given time during the day. You could use Automatic Link Establishment to have other ops radios tell you when a path is open and alert you so you can have a qso. Yaesu radios with C4FM mode, also called System Fusion, have a way to do the same thing as ALE on 10Meters in digital mode.

My experience with 10Meters and good sunspots has been very fun. I put a monoband vertical on the house roof with three radials sloping down and worked the world in FM mode with 25watts.

[5BWAZ]

VOACAP is "prediction" software. It's not always correct. If you want to know what's open in real time, look at the Reverse Beacon Network or DXMaps  https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php

Generally speaking, and aside from sporatic E propagation, you'll want the SFI to be at least 90 for 10m to open E/W. Although you will find the occasional N/S transequatorial propagation with a lesser SFI.

[OZ8AGB]

..or https://www.solarham.net/

[W1VT]

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-cycle-progression
Based on this prediction graph I'd say around 2024.

Location plays a big part.  When I had a superb location in Hawaii I had daily propagation on 10 meters at the bottom of the sunspot cycle.  The beam over steeply sloping ground gave me excellent low angle radiation.  And, to back that up, in 1986 I won the QRP Phone 10M category in the CQ WPX contest.

Zak W1VT

[K0UA]

The answer is that it is all relative. It depends on what you want to call "open".  10 meters IS open every day and has been even during the depth of the sunspot cycle if you are using FT8. But that depends on what "open" means. If you want to work US stations, then yes it is "open". If you want to work TEP and E skip, then during the summer months it is for sure "open", even open for SSB during the summer E season.

 If you want to work DX stations (outside of US and outside of Mexico and Canada is my definition of DX) The the summer E season is your go to method. Even during sunspot minimum. When the solar flux gets above 100 or so, then you can start to see some actual DX, even some for SSB operation. Of course FT8 operation, working DX will occur before that.  CW is somewhere in the middle between FT8 and SSB. In other words FT8 will open for DX first, then CW, then SSB signals will be supported.

Of course your choice of antennas makes a huge difference in "open" and your choice of amplifier also.

We now have choice of mode, choice of time of year, choice of antenna and choice of power level.

So as you can see it is a difficult subject, without an easy answer. Maybe an easier answer would be something like "soon" ?

[K7TAR]

We just had a major propagation “breakthrough” on 10m last weekend - Europe, Africa, the band was “singing” like back in the 80’s… but very one-way, RX was great, but very few QSOs made - probably because EU was covering everything everywhere. And just like THAT it was all gone by Monday, back to noise-level SA and NA.. 😢

[KC6RWI]

Yes, K7TAR, I alway find it curious when all those signals and stations just disappear, here now, then gone. There seems to be a good supply of operators
just waiting for the band to open, I guess there are alot of radios tuned in and waiting

[WB8VLC]

10 meter cw and phone has been open here on the West Coast every night for the past 4 weeks to either New Zealand, Australia, Fiji or the Cook Islands between 2300 and 0300 UTC and to South America in the mornings and afternoon between 1700 and 2200 UTC.

12 meters has been even better, as to be expected, with some  Africa stations in the mornings and afternoon and similar South Pacific and Japan stations in the early evening hours.

[KM1H]

In other words FT8 will open for DX first, then CW, then SSB signals will be supported.

Real hams dont need a computer to do the work

[VK5SA]

In other words FT8 will open for DX first, then CW, then SSB signals will be supported.

Real hams dont need a computer to do the work

Real hams help educate others, which is what K0UA is doing.

Keep it up, James.

Chris   VK5SA

[K0UA]

In other words FT8 will open for DX first, then CW, then SSB signals will be supported.

Real hams dont need a computer to do the work

Real hams help educate others, which is what K0UA is doing.

Keep it up, James.

Chris   VK5SA

Tnx Chris..  73 

[WB8VLC]

A computer in the shack is not necessarily a sign of only digital operation these days nor is it a negative item even for my use which is mainly SSB, CW, AM and FM HF ops,  especially if the ham still uses older equipment that doesn't have the fancy noise reduction algorithms that were not required 25 years ago as in my case.

As an example, I use a computer for my station and I am 100% analog, SSB, AM, CW and FM on the HF bands.

In my use I am using a 25 dollar second hand SDR PLAY RSP1 on an IF tap of my 25 year old Kenwood TS690S for  SSB, CW, AM and FM HF use.

With the RSP1 and 'SDR console' software, which has excellent noise reduction algorithms, something that the TS690S does not have due to its age, the pc and the rsp1 enables me to clean up what would typically be noisy voice signals to the point where these modes are a pleasure to use with the old rig.
 
In my local environment when listening to HF SSB, AM, CW and FM signals they would normally be problematic and interfered with due to my numerous neighbors cheap RFI radiators such as roof top solar systems.

Even though I am using yagi antennas there is still some residule noise in my receiver  and the PC and the RSP1 give me an edge on eliminating or reducing this digital noise from my neighbors crud to where analog operation is now pleasurable.

So in  my case I am experiencing just the opposite with regards to digital operation, with the use of the computer/RSP1 combo and the excellent noise reduction capabilities it has steered me away from going to a 100 % digital operation and pretty much a 100% analog but that's just my preference.

Also, just down the street from me there is a large retirement home with several older hams living the remainder of their lives in it and they have no choice but to use Digi or to have no ham operation at all so I understand their use of FT8 and such.

[KB1GMX]

Waiting for perfect... don't, you miss a lot.

Also there is no "be there Monday june 2023" as likely its
wrong anyway.

I've been on 10M on a regular basis since the pandemic started.
Last year December 2020, I played in the 10M contest using a
3 element beam at 22ft and worked more DX than many expected.
Contacts to the south (as in south america) VIA TEP is near daily.
Sporatic E adds to the fun.  East west stuff (west coast, and further)
has been seen for the last 6 months on an irregular basis.

Time of day matter as here TEP is a late afternoon thing. 
Greyline in the early AM or late afternoon has been interesting
when there is any propagation.

Right now climbing the solar cycle we have days that are very good
 then the sun has a flare or CME and then the higher bands go away
 for a while.  It has been fairly random but usually the SFI climbs some
then crashes after a solar event.    However experience suggests
you have to be there when it happens.

The easy way to check if there is any activity is FT8 and watching
for busy waterfall and where the signals are coming from.

The other half is everyone that tells me 10 is dead is using a soso
antenna.  I'll be blunt days I was told were dead also for me were
productive.  For two solar minima I've had great fun on 10M
and lots of DX.  I use two antennas most of the time, one is a
K6STI rectangle a fullwave loop with 50 ohm feed and small
gain over dipole and quieter.  The other is a wire for plain dipole
for 10M at 30ft. The yagi is going back up this time a tribander
at 25-30ft.  I found G5RV and similar have odd lobes in their
patterns at 10M and don't always ​hear in the desired directions .
Verticals are hit and miss, rarely high enough ok for locals.
Dipole for 10M work but need to be higher than clutter like
houses.

Allison