JP, I think it might be a reasonable cycle 25, just have to wait a few years to get to the great parts. But in the meantime the equinox boost happens twice a year, as does the low band boost in the winter time. I suggest that you constantly monitor the spots and the Sun's daily numbers as they tend to be on a monthly cycle, so a good series of days in November might be a good series in December.
I came up with this station rating system a few years back:. Tier 1 Stations: Elevated Gain antennas, stacked rotatable, separate receive antennas. Amplifiers. Low noise environment. Tier 2 Station: Gain antennas below 1/2 wl, rotatable, Basic wire low band antennas. Amplifier. Medium noise environment. Tier 3 Station: No gain antennas, fixed wire antennas close to the ground. Xmit is receive antenna. No amp and maybe QRP. Medium to high noise environment I've never been a Tier 1. I have been a Tier 2 with amplifier and I am now a Tier 3. What a difference it makes in the low SS numbers time between the Tiers. Although there are times when a Tier 1 station has trouble getting through to another Tier 1. Tier 3 stations always have the short end of the stick, so to speak. *Operating time of day is another variable. Sometimes it is just not there, even in high number times. Have a read of the short article below. It is from the Spring 2017 FOC newsletter....* *On the Air at….“The Right Time” by Steve Ireland, VK6VZ * It is excellent information for those of us new or old Hams who wish to work HF. There is always something to be learned about shortwave propagation that will add to our on air enjoyment. Quite a lot of licensed radio amateurs or shortwave listeners operate on the shortwave bands without much thought as to what directions signal are coming from or going to. A lot of us have only a few hours available each week to pursue our hobby and simply switch on and take the chance to work whatever we are hearing on the radio at that particular time. This method is rather hit and miss and can lead to disappointment. If you are, primarily, a daytime radio operator, the upper shortwave bands can be lots of fun, for DX, during the local winter period. But, during summer, are often only open for intra-continental traffic, particularly during years of low sunspot activity. Similarly, those who are night owls can find the upper shortwave bands lots of fun during the summer, but pretty dead in the winter, especially, once again, when there are few sunspots. There is another important, even more obvious, propagation pattern to be aware of – obvious even to someone who has only listened on the shortwave bands for a few weeks. As a rule of thumb, those bands below 10 MHz come alive during the hours of darkness, while those above 10 MHz are best during daylight. There are only two periods of the day when DX is regularly heard or worked on both the low and high HF bands, at any time of the year and at (almost) any phase of the sunspot cycle. Yes, you guessed it – at around your local sunrise and sunset. If there are only a few hours each week that you can get on the air, making it around these times is going to bring you the most interesting DX results all year round. After being on the air for almost thirty years, I can tell you that the vast majority of my radio activity is the periods before, during and just after sunrise or sunset -- in the time when propagation is often termed “Grey Line”. (end) VK6VZ Hang in there JP.....73 On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 3:59 PM JP Pritchard via BVARC <[email protected]> wrote: > What a ridiculously horrible time to become a ham, hearing all the glory > days stories from veteran hams just as propagation fades to near black. Oh > well… > > > > JP > > > > *From:* BVARC <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Rick Hiller via > BVARC > *Sent:* Sunday, November 15, 2020 6:47 PM > *To:* BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Rick Hiller <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [BVARC] Interesting Article about Cycle 25 and the Sun's > diminishing Magnetic Fields > > > > > https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/solar-magnetic-field-sunspots-solar-cycle-25-maunder-minimum/ > > > > Cycle 25 just might be the last cycle for some time with any sun spots at > all. Going to be a fun 11 years, starting now! > > -- > > > > > > > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> > > Virus-free. www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> > > > ________________________________________________ > Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club > > BVARC mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > -- Rick Hiller *e-mail: [email protected] <[email protected]>* *Cell: 832-474-3713* *Physical: 9031 Troulon Drive* * Houston, TX 77036*
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