HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Propagation => Topic started by: Matt285 on January 16, 2020, 1909 UTC
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I thought I may have ask about this once, but I couldn't find a previous post. What are you all using when it comes to real time Grey line maps? I thought there might be a Black Cat Systems program, but I didn't see one listed. Thanks
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https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/misc/0059.html
It's old school and discontinued, but emits no EMI, requires no batteries, and adds no clutter to the monitor display.
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Interesting. I see that it comes with 12 slides for each month of the year. Not sure it would be easy to find though.
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I use Simon’s :
https://www.sdr-radio.com/download (https://www.sdr-radio.com/download)
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https://www.amazon.com/Geochron-Standard-World-Goatskin-Silver/dp/B00XYYFBF8
for the well-heeled nerd
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I thought I may have ask about this once, but I couldn't find a previous post. What are you all using when it comes to real time Grey line maps? I thought there might be a Black Cat Systems program, but I didn't see one listed. Thanks
Yes, my DX ToolBox has a Grey Line map, as well as about 157 other maps ;D
https://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/ham-shortwave-radio-propagation-software.html
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Josh, The Black Goat skin model is nice, but I've decided on the Veneer Hickory model at $2950.00. And to think I didn't even know if I was going to be able to find something 'Decent' in my price range!
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I use one of the online ones. A solar propagation site has one that works.
http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php
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I use one of the online ones. A solar propagation site has one that works.
http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php
While the grayline may be correct, don’t be fooled by the rest of the data at the map link above. It has been a long time since we have seen a SSN of 86.
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I use the one on DX Maps, http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&ML=M&Map=W2LN&HF=N&DXC=ING2&GL=S
But, that just shows Grey Line for present day. Still, I've used it for 40M for USA East Coast and Aussi Grey Lining in April on 40M.
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Not the best but PSK reporter is useful...https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html
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Thanks for all the feedback.
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I use one of the online ones. A solar propagation site has one that works.
http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php
While the grayline may be correct, don’t be fooled by the rest of the data at the map link above. It has been a long time since we have seen a SSN of 86.
"SSN"? I don't even see a reference to an SSN (whatever that is) on the page anywhere. It has the grey line, radio auroral zones, and MUFs delineated and mentioned, and that's about it.
And I've found the grey line useful, as well as the auroral radio zone demarcation (the green lines at the top of the map). And -- for the most part -- I've found them accurate enough for SWLing.
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I use one of the online ones. A solar propagation site has one that works.
http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php
While the grayline may be correct, don’t be fooled by the rest of the data at the map link above. It has been a long time since we have seen a SSN of 86.
"SSN"? I don't even see a reference to an SSN (whatever that is) on the page anywhere. It has the grey line, radio auroral zones, and MUFs delineated and mentioned, and that's about it.
If you look at the graphic, there is a black bar at the bottom where they show the Smoothed Sunspot Number (SSN), which is used to calculate the MUF.
The true current value is on the order of “5” or so. You can tell that they are using the wrong number because the MUF values the graphic has are unreasonably high. A SSN value of 86 would have been reasonable 5 years ago - not today.
You can find better numbers for SSN here:
https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Solar/1/6
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^^^^^ Fair enough, thanks for the explanation.
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This is something to be aware of as some propagation prediction programs are using old SSN lookup tables. This was recently mentioned here:
https://swling.com/blog/2020/01/ham-cap-and-voa-prop-fixing-ssn-look-up-files/
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Interesting. I see that it comes with 12 slides for each month of the year. Not sure it would be easy to find though.
I have two of those, the earlier monochrome and later color version. They're invaluable to me as I don't use a computer at my radio desk (I'm very old school). The early one came with an overlay for the Great Cirlce path at 40* North, but now I live at 25* N so...
They turn up on eBay from time to time. Not expensive.