eHam
eHam Forums => Propagation => Topic started by: KC6RWI on July 22, 2022, 10:37:44 AM
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I use solar ham, have it book marked and its a regular go to for following the cycle. https://www.solarham.net/
Just wondering what others use.
Also, if you have a favorite indicator value that tells you when bands are open.
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dxheat.com
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Far better and more accurate - turn on your receiver and listen. Propagation reports are always generic. I don’t understand why listening isn’t always the first choice.
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Here is what I use...
First I go to VOACAP, that tells me what bands work for my desired country I am targeting
Second, I fire up PSK reporter , and TX FT8, and see the levels, (I can deduce from the Levels to see if truly propagation is really feasible
The the first two items are good to go, I go to DX Watch, or DX Heat...(QRZ Page has some information, but the first and second items are smack down real infomation
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Go to reversebeacon.net or dxmaps.com...... Call Cq and observe the results
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Turn your radio on and start working stations. Just have fun.
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Bad habit, I don't feel like I am going to have great radio conditions unless the
solar indices say so.
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Some years ago I was listening to the CW portion on a dead 15 m band. There were no signals to be heard.
I called CQ and a chap in Iceland answered.
To this day I still do that.
Don’t just listen— call CQ.
Dave
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Using up to 4 DX clusters or remote beacon network nodes, the DX Submit web cluster, and one or more local WSJT-X instances as input, the freeware DXLab Suite (https://www.dxlabsuite.com/dxlabwiki/CollectingSpots) maintains an active DX database with one entry for each active station near a particular frequency in a particular mode. This makes it possible to
1. identify the operating patterns (bands, modes, times) of stations I'd like to work
2. identify propagation openings between my QTH and stations I'd like to work
When I was chasing ZC4GR on FT8 last year, I first filtered the active DX database to show ZC4GR's FT8 activity by band and time of day:
(https://www.dxlabsuite.com/spotcollector/ZC4GR%20activity.jpg)
Then I filtered the database to show all stations in ZC4, 5B4, TA, OD, 4X, and SU spotted by stations within 500 miles of my QTH near Boston MA, revealing the propagation openings between ZC4 and me:
(https://www.dxlabsuite.com/spotcollector/nrMe-nrZC4.jpg)
Noting the primary overlap between ZC4GR's operating activity and the propagation openings, I monitored the 20m FT8 sub-band from 12Z to 23Z.
Success!
(https://www.dxlabsuite.com/spotcollector/WSJTX-ZC4.jpg)
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I am astonished no one mentioned SWS in a context of "propagation indicator" !
I published my thoughts and experience on this matter last year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1TmpDnRRKk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1TmpDnRRKk)
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I am astonished no one mentioned SWS in a context of "propagation indicator" !
I published my thoughts and experience on this matter last year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1TmpDnRRKk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1TmpDnRRKk)
A very nice analysis, but actual propagation (as reported by the DX Cluster network, WSJT-X instances, and NCDXF beacon reception strengths) is significantly more accurate than forecasting.
Using the included VOACAP engine, DXLab can optionally forecast a short-path and long-path "probability of sufficient SNR" for each active station; this provides guidance as to the likelihood that the user can make contact with an active station (on its band, in its mode).
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I use solar ham, have it book marked and its a regular go to for following the cycle. https://www.solarham.net/
Just wondering what others use.
Also, if you have a favorite indicator value that tells you when bands are open.
Solar Ham and Reverse Beacon network
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I use VOACAP for contest/DX planning. To see how conditions are right now I listen. To me the space weather reports are as good as a terrestrial weather report saying it's raining with I can look outside and see it raining.
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https://prop.kc2g.com/
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Simple tune in 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 MHz. If you have good copy on WWV, that band is open. Takes less than 1 minute.
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My ears. I turn the radio on, tune to a band, and tune through the band (usually from the bottom to the top, so CW is tuned first), and I listen. I've heard surprises before when the prop reports were saying it would be poor propagation, and sometimes when a website shows a ton of contacts on a band I won't hear that much. A lot of it is individual location. A lot of it is just listening time.
Not trying to sound like I'm anti-prop web page or solar indices or whatever, but really it just comes down to listening. If I were a ham, I'd probably send a CQ just to see if anyone hears it.
And like AI5BC says, the WWV/WWVH stations are sort of like propagation beacons. They work well that way, too.
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Thanks for the responses, I am going to check a few of the sites mentioned,
But I am also going to put into memory the wwv/wvh freqs just to check on stuff.
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My ears. I turn the radio on, tune to a band, and tune through the band (usually from the bottom to the top, so CW is tuned first), and I listen. I've heard surprises before when the prop reports were saying it would be poor propagation, and sometimes when a website shows a ton of contacts on a band I won't hear that much. A lot of it is individual location. A lot of it is just listening time.
Not trying to sound like I'm anti-prop web page or solar indices or whatever, but really it just comes down to listening. If I were a ham, I'd probably send a CQ just to see if anyone hears it.
And like AI5BC says, the WWV/WWVH stations are sort of like propagation beacons. They work well that way, too.
If you were pursuing an award like DXCC or 5-band WAZ, you'd soon realize the inefficiency of what you suggest above. There are 10 amateur bands from 160m to 6m (ignoring 60m). Carefully scanning each of them to understand current propagation would take an hour or longer; by the time you finished the scan, conditions could have already changed.
In my experience, the best way to assess band conditions is by analyzing DX Cluster spots in real time. Checking the NCDXF beasons is helpful, but they cover only a few locations around the world.
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And checking propagation of WWV will tell you nothing about DX propagation. WWV is in Colorado. If you want to know if a nearby related ham band is open to Colorado, than this MAY be of some use, but it tells you nothing about DX propagation. DX to me means countries outside of the USA and DOES NOT include Canada or Mexico either unless you are talking about high VHF or UHF frequencies.
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The original poster mentioned "propagation", as in propagation in general, not necessarily DX propagation. He said "tells you what bands are open."
For just propagation, WWV can work just fine. If WWV or WWVH aren't appearing, chances are less that you're going to hear that rare station from Southern Africa or Asia, although that could be possible. I suppose if you have an SDR waterfall, that will tell you more about general propagation than any website on the net. What the guy 20 miles away from you with the 5 element Yagi hears and what you're going to hear with your dipole may be two different things.
As for pursuing DXCC, if you don't actually hear them, you're probably not going to work them, at least with CW and SSB.
I am not a ham, so I don't have that particular issue (having to work them). However, in SWL if you don't hear them, you can't log them -- with SWL, hearing them is the only point.
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The original poster mentioned "propagation", as in propagation in general, not necessarily DX propagation. He said "tells you what bands are open."
For just propagation, WWV can work just fine. If WWV or WWVH aren't appearing, chances are less that you're going to hear that rare station from Southern Africa or Asia, although that could be possible. I suppose if you have an SDR waterfall, that will tell you more about general propagation than any website on the net. What the guy 20 miles away from you with the 5 element Yagi hears and what you're going to hear with your dipole may be two different things.
As for pursuing DXCC, if you don't actually hear them, you're probably not going to work them, at least with CW and SSB.
I am not a ham, so I don't have that particular issue (having to work them). However, in SWL if you don't hear them, you can't log them -- with SWL, hearing them is the only point.
I suggest that you read The CQ Shortwave Propagation Handbook (https://store.cq-amateur-radio.com/shop/the-cq-shortwave-propagation-handbook/).
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For just propagation, WWV can work just fine. If WWV or WWVH aren't appearing, chances are less that you're going to hear that rare station from Southern Africa or Asia,
That is simply NOT true.
I do believe you have a lot to learn about propagation. As a matter of fact we all have a lot to learn, but checking WWV from here in the Midwest (Missouri) will tell me nothing about working stations in Africa or Asia.
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I suggest that you read The CQ Shortwave Propagation Handbook (https://store.cq-amateur-radio.com/shop/the-cq-shortwave-propagation-handbook/).
I probably read it years ago.
Ultimately, you turn on the radio, tune the band, and see what's there. Which is what I originally said in my first post in this thread. My comment about WWV was secondary. I personally don't use WWV as a propagation beacon, I tune the bands. They aren't that big to tune across. It's fairly easy to tell whether a band is active or not. It's not rocket science.
But I have noticed that if WWV or WWVH are MIA, SW conditions in general aren't as good. it may just be something that is noticeable in my region of the US.
For just propagation, WWV can work just fine. If WWV or WWVH aren't appearing, chances are less that you're going to hear that rare station from Southern Africa or Asia,
That is simply NOT true.
I do believe you have a lot to learn about propagation. As a matter of fact we all have a lot to learn, but checking WWV from here in the Midwest (Missouri) will tell me nothing about working stations in Africa or Asia.
Every night WWV is missing here, most of the rest of the bands are dead. If WWVH is missing, usually there isn't decent propagation to Asia. That's been my experience over 40 years of monitoring the SW and HF ham bands. It may be something peculiar to the NW US. Obviously, it's going to be different in another part of the continent. Someone in Florida or Maine or South Texas is going to have different reception, as well as different propagation.
Ultimately, you turn on the radio, tune the band, and see what's there.
I just have never found the online propagation sites that useful. If others find them useful, good for them.
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I just transmit a sequence of low power FT8 beacons on each band, and see what parts of the world that signals from my antenna at my QTH are currently propagating to, and how well (e.g. as reported by pskreporter, et.al.)
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I just transmit a sequence of low power FT8 beacons on each band, and see what parts of the world that signals from my antenna at my QTH are currently propagating to, and how well (e.g. as reported by pskreporter, et.al.)
Yes, much can be learned with real signals from your real antenna at your specific QTH into real receivers in some other parts of the world with their real noise floors. WSPR can also work well. and for those who hate FT8 and WSPR, you can use the RBN on CW.