My uneducated guess would be the following: For the past several years,
the SFI had a very hard time making to 75 and hence the MUF was quite
low, barely enhancing 20 meters at times and in darkness, there were
some nights, were 40 was almost dead. So 80 and 160 had better or
optimum conditions. Now we see the SFI rarely drop below 125-130 and we
now see reports of poor 160 meter prop. Looking at logs of stations I
manage, where there once was 160 and 80 meter Q's , have now been
replace with 40 and 20 meter Q's in the same time frame and occasionally
15 meters. This would lead one to believe that the MUF is staying too
high to support GOOD 160 meter propagation.
Those of you that have operated in other solar peaks (or near solar
peaks) can see if this holds any water by comparing openings with high
flux numbers. i.e. did the same thing happen when the SFI was in the
140's or above. My guess is that you will notice a drop in 160 meter
QSOs in your log.
Season Greetings to all on the Topband reflector.
Art-N2AU
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