Topband: 160 and 80 meter QRN prediction

[Tom W8JI]

> Shouldn't you also look at lightning activity on the path between you and 
> your area of interest?  I've found quite often that the day after a big 
> eastward-moving storm, there is a lot of noise on my path to Europe.


That's right, Pete. With good directional receiving antennas, other than 
really local storms, noise along the desired path is probably the single 
most important thing.

For example, it makes little difference here what the lightning map looks 
like to the west or south when listening for Europe (NE), but a single storm 
2000 miles NE can really mess things up.