A Propagation Upturn...

It's been 10 days since I have been out doing an activation, mainly due to the very poor propagation and the futility of trying to operate QRP in such conditions. Yesterday wasn't too bad on the bands, for a change so I decided to get out and give it a try again.

It took 40 minutes to get 17 contacts in the log. I managed 11 SSB on 20m and 6 CW on 40m, so I was fairly happy with that. The radio in use was my KX2, and my usual hamsticks. The bands look even better this morning, so I think I'll be doing another trip today. 

A few new antenna parts are on order from various companies to put together a ground mounted vertical, more on this when the parts arrive. I'm hoping the new antenna will help simplify things for me. I hate doing POTA activations with a 10 metre collapsible mast, the less attention I can draw to me the better I like it...and let's be honest, not every park is suitable to erect a mast and wire.

Yesterday the propagation was: SFI=119, SN=93, A Index=13, and the K Index=3. There was very deep QSB as well. As you can see for the contact map above, 20m was very short, except for the single opening into St. Kitts and Nevis.

Stay Safe Out There!