Hi Roger,
160 is notoriously unpredictable, possibly even more so than any other
HF band except maybe 10 M.
Sometimes just before a flare 160 cndx may be enhanced, and I have even
seen some instances of flaring and elevated K indices K=3 or 4, where
160 propagation maybe be temporarily better than expected (if you are on
160 at night during the onset of the flare), but those times are
infrequent at best.
The only propagation "constants" that I have seen over the past 4 cycles
on 160 are:
1) Higher A and K levels generally mean poorer 160M propagation
2) PCA's, CME's, and auroras are all BAD for 160M prop. and find
something else to do when you hear Stratwarm alerts.
3) 160 propagation worsens as we go up into the new solar cycle and
improves noticeably
as we go head down towards the bottom of the cycle
4) Almost anything can happen on 160 at any time, a lot of which we
still don't really understand, such as the difference between "Vertical
nights" and "Horizontal nights". On those nights in particular, there
are band openings that may go unnoticed due to the combination of
stations thinking that cndx are "poor" and don't bother to CQ, plus
other station using the wrong type of antenna on that night.
5) If I have learned anything about 160, it is that every time I think
that I understand it, something different and unexpected happens. LOL!
73
Bob, KQ2M
On 2023-01-08 12:16, Roger Kennedy wrote:
Thanks for that Bob (I must confess that I've never really been into
understanding all the technical factors that affect propagation)
But the thing is that I've been DX-ing on 160m for over 50 years . . .
and
never known it be so poor for so long, at any point in the Solar Cycle.
(in
fact I don't even recall the Cycle affecting Top Band very much, unlike
the
higher bands)
Roger G3YRO
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