This winter season here now is the worst I can remember in all my many
years
of DXing. Each day I faithfully go through the various bands: LW, MW,
Hams,
Aero/utilities, Tropical and the SW HF BC bands. Disappointingly
nothing at
all comes in many days except the most powerful transmitters of the
big
broadcasters; sometimes even my regular DX bench marks are not heard
at all
for days. Most disappointing.

I think I have DXed through three propagation sun cycles and the low
we are
currently experiencing is yielding the worst DX results and most
disappointing reception I have experienced in all my years. Some days
I
wonder why I keep all these high end expensive radios with nothing to
show
for them?

All the old timers remember the 80's when reception of every type of
signal
was superb. I used to catch the utilities in those years - one night
on the
aero bands I got no less than thirty five new stations from as many
countries = superb! Tropical bands were a cinch and Indonesia used to
come
in nearly every night plus some rare 1 Kw Peruvians. Now = nothing,
nara,
not a thing. I am hardpressed now to get two aero stations in a night!

But before you chuck away your radio's, the good news is that as this
solar
cycle turns, reception will improve slowly over the next six years to
a new
peak, so hang in there. The good times are coming back again.

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7700, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

wrote:

This winter season here now is the worst I can remember in all my many
years
of DXing. Each day I faithfully go through the various bands: LW, MW,
Hams,
Aero/utilities, Tropical and the SW HF BC bands. Disappointingly
nothing at
all comes in many days except the most powerful transmitters of the
big
broadcasters; sometimes even my regular DX bench marks are not heard
at all
for days. Most disappointing.

I think I have DXed through three propagation sun cycles and the low
we are
currently experiencing is yielding the worst DX results and most
disappointing reception I have experienced in all my years. Some days
I
wonder why I keep all these high end expensive radios with nothing to
show
for them?

All the old timers remember the 80's when reception of every type of
signal
was superb. I used to catch the utilities in those years - one night
on the
aero bands I got no less than thirty five new stations from as many
countries = superb! Tropical bands were a cinch and Indonesia used to
come
in nearly every night plus some rare 1 Kw Peruvians. Now = nothing,
nara,
not a thing. I am hardpressed now to get two aero stations in a night!

But before you chuck away your radio's, the good news is that as this
solar
cycle turns, reception will improve slowly over the next six years to
a new
peak, so hang in there. The good times are coming back again.

Just gotta hang in there! And have a lot of patience.



John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7700, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

dxAce wrote:

wrote:

This winter season here now is the worst I can remember in all my many
years
of DXing. Each day I faithfully go through the various bands: LW, MW,
Hams,
Aero/utilities, Tropical and the SW HF BC bands. Disappointingly
nothing at
all comes in many days except the most powerful transmitters of the
big
broadcasters; sometimes even my regular DX bench marks are not heard
at all
for days. Most disappointing.

I think I have DXed through three propagation sun cycles and the low
we are
currently experiencing is yielding the worst DX results and most
disappointing reception I have experienced in all my years. Some days
I
wonder why I keep all these high end expensive radios with nothing to
show
for them?

All the old timers remember the 80's when reception of every type of
signal
was superb. I used to catch the utilities in those years - one night
on the
aero bands I got no less than thirty five new stations from as many
countries = superb! Tropical bands were a cinch and Indonesia used to
come
in nearly every night plus some rare 1 Kw Peruvians. Now = nothing,
nara,
not a thing. I am hardpressed now to get two aero stations in a night!

But before you chuck away your radio's, the good news is that as this
solar
cycle turns, reception will improve slowly over the next six years to
a new
peak, so hang in there. The good times are coming back again.

Just gotta hang in there! And have a lot of patience.


I remember the lows in the 60'/70's. It was pretty depressing.

It led me to experiment with different radios, different locales. And
a LOT of antenna/ground experimentation.

By the time the cycle had swung upward, I was loaded for bear.

Heheheheh....






John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7700, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

In article
,
wrote:

This winter season here now is the worst I can remember in all my
many years of DXing. Each day I faithfully go through the various
bands: LW, MW, Hams, Aero/utilities, Tropical and the SW HF BC bands.
Disappointingly nothing at all comes in many days except the most
powerful transmitters of the big broadcasters; sometimes even my
regular DX bench marks are not heard at all for days. Most
disappointing.

I think I have DXed through three propagation sun cycles and the low
we are currently experiencing is yielding the worst DX results and
most disappointing reception I have experienced in all my years. Some
days I wonder why I keep all these high end expensive radios with
nothing to show for them?

All the old timers remember the 80's when reception of every type of
signal was superb. I used to catch the utilities in those years - one
night on the aero bands I got no less than thirty five new stations
from as many countries = superb! Tropical bands were a cinch and
Indonesia used to come in nearly every night plus some rare 1 Kw
Peruvians. Now = nothing, nara, not a thing. I am hardpressed now to
get two aero stations in a night!

But before you chuck away your radio's, the good news is that as this
solar cycle turns, reception will improve slowly over the next six
years to a new peak, so hang in there. The good times are coming back
again.

Here in southern california where signals are weaker to begin with day
time reception has been poor but night time reception has been very good.

I have had very good reception from around sunset to early mornings.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California