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[KD0VE]

I've been a ham going on 8 years.  Improving propagation makes me think there should be some emerging DX opportunities; new for me since prop has been poor or awful for most of the time I've been a ham.

Looking for advice on SSB DX opportunities for the time around sun up from central MN.  I often hear KE5EE working Indonesia but only very rarely can hear anyone he is working which gets frustrating.

Station is IC7300, ALS600 amp, 40M 2 element monobander at 75', OCF 10-80 dipole at 70', and 10 - 20 hexbeam at 40'.  also a 550' Beverage oriented NE/SW.  I have a legal limit amp but it's no help if I'm not hearing anyone anyway.

looking for suggestions.  thx to anyone taking the time to offer advice.

[K6AER]

I am guessing by your station description you would like to work Indonesia on 40 meters. Early morning on short path may be the best bet but propagation may not be best over the shortest path. Look at DX postings to get an idea of what the band is doing.

What is your noise floor? If it is mid to high? You might not hear your wanted DX. Should you have an interfering noise source you might want to try an interference phase cancelation system such as the QRM Eliminator, ANC-4 or MFJ-1025.

Yes, we have all heard the statement if you can not hear them, you can not work them. There is a corollary to that…a thousand receivers make no noise.  Many a time I have call CQ on a dead band only to find out it erupts with stations after a few minuets because nobody is transmitting CQ.
Use your big amp. Most hams have a mid to high noise floor and your DX station will reply if they can hear you. You can always reduce power.

Good Luck.

[KD0VE]

Thx for reply.  Noise floor is quite low most of the time.  I'll give the big amp a try.

[WA8NVW]

Try pointing your antenna along the grey line for starters.  And be aware of the difference in local time.  It's harder to find folks on the air at the other end of the path during their office hours or sleep times. 

[WB8VLC]

Seriously you wonder why KE5EE, Stan, hears things that you don't hear?

Stan uses stacked arrays on all bands, he even uses yagis for 80 meters so its no wonder you hear him working things that you can't hear.

 Also his location in Fla. is near prime saltwater takeoff.

One of Stan's most recent antenna setups is a pair of rotatable hex beams spaced horizontally and fed in phase, so even his hex beam setup is a big step above the average hams.

Stan's a great guy BTW, he recently set up Meralda VP6MW with a brand new hex beam so she could put out a much better signal from Pitcairn Island along with KI6YN who arranged to send her a yaesu FT991A.

Me thinks that Stan's next plan is to try and get Meralda to go the phased hex beam route, now that would  make her already massive Pitcairn signal much stronger

You should pay attention to the various dx clusters along with checking out DX maps in particular.
https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php?Lan=E

With DX maps you can enable gray line to see what the path looks like between you and various dx stations, and you can also click on a dx station on the map or in the listing and it will open up a second page where you can then predict propagation to the dx station selected.

You already have a good setup for 40 meters and up so I'd guess it's just that your operating times are off and whatever you do, don't try to compare what you have to Stan, KE5EE's setup either.

Be patient at first just to get an idea as to how your your setup performs and don't forget to check out the long path because LP is very useable but you need to get familiar with the times of the day when these far out dx stations come into your area.

[KH6AQ]

For your station with a 3 element Yagi at the other end and residential noise VOACAP shows for circuit reliability and band:

20 meters, 1600Z, 22%
17 meters, 1700Z, 40%
15 meters, 1800Z, 28%

These are brief openings of less than an hour to two hours. CST is 10AM to noon.

VOACAP online   https://www.voacap.com/hf/

[KH6AQ]

Mark, here is the VOACAP short path prediction for Minnesota to Indonesia using your station. The peak times will remain the same for station improvements (antenna, RF power). The 17 meter band looks like your best shot at 1800Z and later at 0000Z.

VOACAP Prop Wheel screenshot 
SSB   https://imgur.com/SzCgKqa

CW    https://imgur.com/e6cncrz

FT8    https://imgur.com/5Xe9QTz

Parameters
SSB, CW, FT8
500W
2 element Yagi (Hexbeam) at 33' to 3 element Yagi at 33'
Noise, Quiet (-153 dBW)

[W1VT]

There are occasionally great openings across the North and South poles around sunrise if you are up that early.  It is even better if it sunset simultaneously at the far end of the opening.  It only happens once in while because aurora will soak up the signals if that gets in the way.

Zak W1VT

[KA2FIR]

Turn your radio on and tune the bands for DX.