Technical Topics > Propagation
Solar Cycle Sunspot Number Progression
BoomboxDX:
About 2-3 afternoons ago I heard my first snippet of Latin American CB Outbanders talkin' from country to country. It was weak, and there was a lot more fading than in 2011-2012, but at least it was there. Pretty sure I heard at least one guy from Costa Rica, and I'm in the PNW, so it's a sign that perhaps the cycle is starting to kick in.
Obviously, there are probably less CBers, even in Latin America, than there were ten years ago, but there should be enough of them wanting to shoot skip that the Outband should be fairly lively if the propagation permits.
I've heard at least three decent signals from Europe on 20 meters over the past couple weeks, so there's that, too.
ChrisSmolinski:
Latin American 11m signals have been fairly common here the entire year, although not all day long. Also the occasional opening to Europe, but I haven't encountered one in the past few weeks.
BoomboxDX:
--- Quote from: ChrisSmolinski on August 23, 2022, 1221 UTC ---Latin American 11m signals have been fairly common here the entire year, although not all day long. Also the occasional opening to Europe, but I haven't encountered one in the past few weeks.
--- End quote ---
One reason for the difference between our reception experiences is probably the latitude. I'm above 47N, Maryland is centered around 39N, plus the general time zone / geographical advantage (ET is closer to South American time zones).
But still, me hearing Latin American outbanders is a sign that prop is slowly picking up. During the sunspot lull it was deadsville, as was much of the SW spectrum many nights and mornings.
BoomboxDX:
The last couple weeks have been touch and go. At least three separate nights / mornings where the ionosphere sounded like frying eggs, with the US domestics barely readable and even MW sucked, more or less. One evening / a.m. WWV on 10 Mhz was completely MIA, and I never experienced that before the downturn in the last cycle around 2017. Since the downturn, it seems to happen at least once or twice a month.
So in the northern tier latitudes, we're not out of the woods yet.
But you turn on the radio, tune around, never know what you just might hear. There are surprises that happen, even when the SW bands are down, down, down.
UncleJohn:
Don't know if or how relevant the following is but last moi checked (a couple days ago) 27 megahertz cb had lots of chatter...still, & most all of it from pretty much anywhere east of the Rockies, especially the southern U.S. up to this area.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version