Is the ionosphere dead?

On Fri, 24 May 2024 12:15:50 +0100

Post by Ottavio Caruso
Not having the physical opportunity to have my own rig, I like (or I
http://kiwisdr.com/public/
Progressively, the reception has been getting worse. For the last few
days it looks like sky waves were completely dead (I am checking 40
and 20 bands).
I know there was a magnetic storm a few days ago.
Is there anything that justifies this phenomenon or have all admins
of these sites decided to go on a strike and disconnect their
antennas?

Looking at the N0NBH solar graphs reproduced here:

https://rsgb.org/main/operating/live-solar-data/

the bands you mention look pretty dead during the day. At night there
was quite a lot more traffic showing up on my receivers, 40m was well
occupied yesterday evening. Last week I could hear stations from VK and
HP on 20m late evening and a very strong 7Z1 station in Saudi.

I suppose that you have not been listening at the best time for
activity but you're certainly correct that the sun has been quite
active in the last couple of months but of course this is cyclical on
various different periods.

--
Brian Morrison

"I am not young enough to know everything"
Oscar Wilde

Ottavio Caruso

2024-05-24 13:12:21 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
https://rsgb.org/main/operating/live-solar-data/
the bands you mention look pretty dead during the day.

I've been using the kiwisdr receivers for almost 4 years between 10 am
and 6 pm. The 20 and 40 m bands were always buzzing. I record morse QSO
fragments and then I play them at home. I have 100s if not 1000s of
files. It's only the last 3 weeks that I am struggling to get a signal
at all.

The 40m are notoriously a 24/7 busy band.

--
Ottavio Caruso

Brian Morrison

2024-05-24 14:09:24 UTC

On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
https://rsgb.org/main/operating/live-solar-data/
the bands you mention look pretty dead during the day.

I've been using the kiwisdr receivers for almost 4 years between 10
am and 6 pm. The 20 and 40 m bands were always buzzing. I record
morse QSO fragments and then I play them at home. I have 100s if not
1000s of files. It's only the last 3 weeks that I am struggling to
get a signal at all.
The 40m are notoriously a 24/7 busy band.

https://solen.info/solar/index.html

Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a high
level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the D-layer and
causing the lower bands to be particular challenged propagation-wise.

--
Brian Morrison

"I am not young enough to know everything"
Oscar Wilde

Brian Gregory

2024-05-28 21:30:01 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
https://rsgb.org/main/operating/live-solar-data/
the bands you mention look pretty dead during the day.

I've been using the kiwisdr receivers for almost 4 years between 10
am and 6 pm. The 20 and 40 m bands were always buzzing. I record
morse QSO fragments and then I play them at home. I have 100s if not
1000s of files. It's only the last 3 weeks that I am struggling to
get a signal at all.
The 40m are notoriously a 24/7 busy band.

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a high
level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the D-layer and
causing the lower bands to be particular challenged propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when there
isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways with perhaps
10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters to behave or the
best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the coverage of my HF
receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you normally expect 80
meters to be during the day.

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

Brian Morrison

2024-05-28 22:29:56 UTC

On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

Post by Ottavio Caruso
I've been using the kiwisdr receivers for almost 4 years between 10
am and 6 pm. The 20 and 40 m bands were always buzzing. I record
morse QSO fragments and then I play them at home. I have 100s if
not 1000s of files. It's only the last 3 weeks that I am
struggling to get a signal at all.
The 40m are notoriously a 24/7 busy band.

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

--
Brian Morrison

"I am not young enough to know everything"
Oscar Wilde

Ottavio Caruso

2024-05-29 08:07:04 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

There must be a problem with KiwiSDR software because, as of yesterday,
I could see some CW activity on the 40m band on the Weston-super-Mare
SDR site:
http://80m.live:8078/

but all other Europeans sites were dead.

--
Ottavio Caruso

mm0fmf

2024-05-29 17:08:04 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

There must be a problem with KiwiSDR software because, as of yesterday,
I could see some CW activity on the 40m band on the Weston-super-Mare
http://80m.live:8078/
but all other Europeans sites were dead.

Maybe you could read some books on propagation and specifically search
for what happens at the solar maximum on the lower frequency bands in
Summer?

Roger Hayter

2024-05-29 17:12:47 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Maybe you could read some books on propagation and specifically search
for what happens at the solar maximum on the lower frequency bands in
Summer?

That seems somewhat dismissive, and not really in the spirit of amateur radio.
Not everyone knows everything; and not a few know nothing whatsoever.
Education is better than acting superior.

--
Roger Hayter

mm0fmf

2024-05-29 17:22:24 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Maybe you could read some books on propagation and specifically search
for what happens at the solar maximum on the lower frequency bands in
Summer?

That seems somewhat dismissive, and not really in the spirit of amateur radio.
Not everyone knows everything; and not a few know nothing whatsoever.
Education is better than acting superior.

Well for a start the poster is a well known troll. Secondly he's been
told to go and read a book/books etc. so he can learn like everyone else
had to. In today's modern world there is a vast amount of information
available for free on the internet including most of the books old
bastards like you and I read in the past will have been pirated and are
available as PDFs. And finally fuck off Hayter.

Roger Hayter

2024-05-29 18:10:03 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Maybe you could read some books on propagation and specifically search
for what happens at the solar maximum on the lower frequency bands in
Summer?

That seems somewhat dismissive, and not really in the spirit of amateur radio.
Not everyone knows everything; and not a few know nothing whatsoever.
Education is better than acting superior.

Then again you are a well known troll (in the modern journalistic sense of
"rude person on the Internet") and we still treat you with the respect you
deserve; better, even.

--
Roger Hayter

Ottavio Caruso

2024-05-30 09:12:57 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Maybe you could read some books on propagation and specifically search
for what happens at the solar maximum on the lower frequency bands in
Summer?

That seems somewhat dismissive, and not really in the spirit of amateur radio.
Not everyone knows everything; and not a few know nothing whatsoever.
Education is better than acting superior.

I expect this and much worse from mm0fmf.

--
Ottavio Caruso

Jim GM4DHJ ...

2024-06-04 17:52:51 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100

Post by Brian Morrison
On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100

[...]

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of
any signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Maybe you could read some books on propagation and specifically search
for what happens at the solar maximum on the lower frequency bands in
Summer?

That seems somewhat dismissive, and not really in the spirit of amateur radio.
Not everyone knows everything; and not a few know nothing whatsoever.
Education is better than acting superior.

no idea why he isn't booted out of the lothians club

noel

2024-05-29 21:03:54 UTC

On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100 Brian Gregory

On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100 Ottavio Caruso

[...]

Post by Ottavio Caruso
I've been using the kiwisdr receivers for almost 4 years between 10
am and 6 pm. The 20 and 40 m bands were always buzzing. I record
morse QSO fragments and then I play them at home. I have 100s if not
1000s of files. It's only the last 3 weeks that I am struggling to
get a signal at all.
The 40m are notoriously a 24/7 busy band.

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways with
perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters to
behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of any
signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Im on Sunshine coast in Queensland, AU, and Germany has been romping in
strong 59+10 on 40 metres, Spain and Italy too - but weaker, are the
bands dead? NO !

If your deaf, maybe you were such a PITFA someone snipped your coax

Smolley

2024-06-02 18:16:07 UTC

Post by noel

On Tue, 28 May 2024 22:30:01 +0100 Brian Gregory

On Fri, 24 May 2024 14:12:21 +0100 Ottavio Caruso

[...]

Post by Ottavio Caruso
I've been using the kiwisdr receivers for almost 4 years between 10
am and 6 pm. The 20 and 40 m bands were always buzzing. I record
morse QSO fragments and then I play them at home. I have 100s if
not 1000s of files. It's only the last 3 weeks that I am struggling
to get a signal at all.
The 40m are notoriously a 24/7 busy band.

https://solen.info/solar/index.html
Solar activity shown by the 30-day average Wolf number indicates a
high level of activity recently, perhaps this is energising the
D-layer and causing the lower bands to be particular challenged
propagation-wise.

We're at or approaching the peak of the sunspot cycle so even when
there isn't a solar storm the bands will behave in different ways
with perhaps 10 meters behaving more like you might expect 20 meters
to behave or the best DX propagation being in the 6m band beyond the
coverage of my HF receivers while maybe 40 meters is as dead as you
normally expect 80 meters to be during the day.

Yes, 40m looked fairly busy this afternoon but 80m was devoid of any
signals at all at the same time. Almost summer for you...

Im on Sunshine coast in Queensland, AU, and Germany has been romping in
strong 59+10 on 40 metres, Spain and Italy too - but weaker, are the
bands dead? NO !
If your deaf, maybe you were such a PITFA someone snipped your coax

One way ionosphere, big rectifier in the sky.

Jim GM4DHJ ...

2024-05-27 07:38:30 UTC

Post by Ottavio Caruso
Not having the physical opportunity to have my own rig, I like (or I
http://kiwisdr.com/public/
Progressively, the reception has been getting worse. For the last few
days it looks like sky waves were completely dead (I am checking 40 and
20 bands).
I know there was a magnetic storm a few days ago.
Is there anything that justifies this phenomenon or have all admins of
these sites decided to go on a strike and disconnect their antennas?

What I want to know is what happened to 80m ?...used to be great in the
70's what with charlie 3HLQ Scotch corner ... the Glasgow news etc on
during the day....3knx 3ehi etc the boys on 3.680 Mhz

Brian Morrison

2024-05-27 14:29:57 UTC

On Mon, 27 May 2024 08:38:30 +0100

Post by Jim GM4DHJ ...
What I want to know is what happened to 80m ?...used to be great in
the 70's what with charlie 3HLQ Scotch corner ... the Glasgow news
etc on during the day....3knx 3ehi etc the boys on 3.680 Mhz

70s was round about solar minimum, so 80m in the daytime would have been
better. Currently we're somewhere around solar maximum so the D-layer
is making it very quiet during the day. My waterfall is empty right now.

--
Brian Morrison

"I am not young enough to know everything"
Oscar Wilde

Jim GM4DHJ ...

2024-06-04 17:46:54 UTC

Post by Brian Morrison
On Mon, 27 May 2024 08:38:30 +0100

what happened to the dx section 3.780 to 3.8 mhz ?

brian

2024-05-27 16:01:01 UTC

Post by Jim GM4DHJ ...

Post by Ottavio Caruso
Not having the physical opportunity to have my own rig, I like (or I
http://kiwisdr.com/public/
Progressively, the reception has been getting worse. For the last
few days it looks like sky waves were completely dead (I am checking
40 and 20 bands).
I know there was a magnetic storm a few days ago.
Is there anything that justifies this phenomenon or have all admins
of these sites decided to go on a strike and disconnect their antennas?

What I want to know is what happened to 80m ?...used to be great in the
70's what with charlie 3HLQ Scotch corner ... the Glasgow news etc on
during the day....3knx 3ehi etc the boys on 3.680 Mhz

Noise floor was a lot lower. I used to listen to G2ABV,G3AOO, G3EPL and
GM3UMW etc. in their evening net on 3680.

Brian

--
Brian Howie

A. non Eyemouse

2024-05-28 14:40:18 UTC