On Sun, 02 May 2010 19:24:46 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 2 May 2010 15:21:56 -0700 (PDT), bpnjensen
wrote:

On May 2, 2:40*pm, wrote:
Radio Sweden - Madagascar relay heard s/on 2130UTC / 7460kHz
Music was clear but voice audio modulation was poor.

Jim

Hi, Jim - is 40 meters generally open right now?

Depends.

Midwest propagation is good both short and long path from about
1900UTC on becoming longer until just before sunset when there is a
peak in propagation to Europe and then the middle east. In the early
morning local time many Australian hams join in the local nets just
before sunrise. The band goes more local again a few hours after
sunrise.

In think peak propagation on 40m to Europe is 0000UT around here
because I talked to G4ATA in England like he was local last week at
that time.

Jim

Propagation generally can be figured out from the gray line map:
http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/greyline.html

However, 40 meters can be kind of an outlier. When conditions are good
it can propagate signals worldwide (like 31m and 25m) for a good
portion of day. This is why broadcasters don't want to give it up.

Jim