Thursday 18 February 2021

HF propagation charts updated for 2021


I've now updated my propagation prediction charts for 2021 with the predicted smoothed sunspot numbers from NOAA/NASA.

So that's a chart for every hour, for every band and for every month, or more than 2,300 charts in total! The process is fairly automated, but it still fairly tedious and takes about a day to do.

The charts are useful as a quick guide to what parts of the world may be workable and which aren't. If you want more accurate charts then the ITURHFPROP-based predtest.uk or the VOACAP-based voacap.com websites are better.

I may need to update them as the year progresses as we get a better idea of how Solar Cycle 25 pans out. At the moment it isn't looking too good. December 2020 saw a sprinkling of SS25 sunspots with a corresponding rise in HF activity. But since January is has been pretty dire really with long periods of no spots 

Anyway, to avoid confusion, I have updated form February onwards. This means that January is actually for 2022. 

The charts are produced using Hamcap which is a VOACAP-based application and they are for short-path only.

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