You may have heard the doom and gloom about being in the depths of the 11 Year Sunspot Cycle:
- “No propagation above 20 Meters”
- “Ten is dead!”
- “Might as well sell the radio”
- “The sun will never return”
- “It’s 80 & 160 Meters only for the next few years”
- “#$@&%*!”
Well, the idea to concentrate on 160 and 80 Meters is a good idea, but not until late
fall or winter. In the meantime, there is a way to make contacts on 6, 10 or 12 Meters
most days of the week by taking advantage of the summer enhanced E Skip season
and the new mode of FT8.
Typically during high sunspot activity (solar flux) ionization of the F layer of the fall or winter. In the meantime, there is a way to make contacts on 6, 10 or 12 Meters
most days of the week by taking advantage of the summer enhanced E Skip season
and the new mode of FT8.
atmosphere facilitates refraction of signals on higher HF bands allowing
worldwide communications. The E layer is below the F layer and is responsible
for a propagation type known to abnormally effect VHF and higher HF frequencies
called Sporadic E or E skip. This happens went ionized particles appear in the
E layer of the ionosphere. Sporadic E as the name implies occurs sporadically
throughout the year and is not dependent on 11-year sunspot cycle.
In the Northern hemisphere, sporadic E activities are more frequent during the
summer months.
