I see the solar flux ended the day Sunday over 100 for the first time since 2005.
Yet Sunday afternoon, 10m was still just as dead as a doorknob. Spent a few minutes several times hunting beacons, but only the local one here in FM05 was audible. Didn’t hear much on 15m either, but there were a few CW Q’s and some RTTY signals. One very faint SSB QSO.
Perhaps a few days of flux will help improve conditions. What with ARRL DX CW coming, that would be a welcome change.
But the whole extended propagation drought has me re-evaluating the 160m antenna versus the 10m/15m antenna. Its not necessarily an either/or, but the supports they occupy could probably be used for other things. Its probably a good time to re-evaluate the available support/actual usage trade-offs again. Most of the wires were hoisted based on what supports were unoccupied, rather than as a whole station best use plan. [ Plan? Plan?]
There’s a three week window here where the temperatures will be moderate and the leaves are not yet budding. Plan? None yet occurs.
The 10/15m loop is probably in a spot that might be better used for the 160m vertical. The 160m vertical is a bit on the long side, and the darn thing is working – kinda-sorta hate to “fix” something that works. But there’s also K2AV’s new idea for the radial/counterpoise to consider. Not sure what the real fun factor is in the situation. In the end, the real plan is to maximize the fun.
So, where’s the long-term fun gonna be? 40m and 80m? Never much cared for 20m……although it has its moments.
For the current moment, procrastination may cause the ideal antenna work window to come and go. The squirrels in the biological antenna support structures may get to enjoy spring unmolested.
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