I’m traveling back from EA7 so can’t verify if this is correct but W3LPL (Frank Donovan) owner of a US superstation and propagation “aficionado” is reporting that now and for the next 2 weeks conditions are incredible……10m open well past midnight!
Anyone experiencing any of this?
I’m sure not. There have been some X class flares ruining things of late. Right now it appears downgraded to M8, but still high. Of course, my knowledge of things that affect propagation could fill at least a couple of thimbles.
Hi Paul,
For the last two weeks completely the opposite - Bad DX conditions from Central Europe. However … being further South, Mediterranean stations often get better propagation than those further North.
73 Ed DD5LP
My experience today (and for the last 2 weeks) running QRP with a temporary wire antenna from different SOTA summits has been dismal. Meanwhile, friends running 500 watts to stacked yagis report some great contacts with DX stations running similar equipment.
Everything is relative. 
Hopefully we QRPers can catch an opening soon during this solar peak.
Stay well & 73!
Mike, WB2FUV
Although SSN’s are forecasted to improve significantly over the next 2 weeks with predicted SFI #'s over 200. Which will mean some good propagation only if the sun stops belching M-Class solar flares!
Guy/n7un
Two more X1 events this morning 
Morning Paul
I did see a VK3 in Victoria last nght on FT8 long path on 28074 around midnight local tme. Just the one VK mind, amongst the PY stations and PU0FDN. I wasn’t able to raise him with my 130 watts, so I went to bed.
Frank Donovan could be right… he’s probably thinking ahead to CQ WPX on May 25/26th now.
73 Phil
Hi Paul,
I remember having worked VK/ZL on 10m LP around local (EU) midnight during the last sunspot maximum (mostly in April/May IIRC).
Looking at the data from Dourbes (PROPquest | Graphs) MUF drops quickly after sunset. Currently there is no sign of 10m openings after dark but they could be in the offing.
73, Roman
My recent four activations in EA7 didn’t yield any memorable propagation but we’ll see how the next week or so plays out even with flares (guess that’s the time to dust off the Aurora watching plan……)
A few nights ago I was listening to a very strong YB at 2330. He was working a succession of much weaker stations and it was clear that though he seemed to have a pipeline to me the opening was global.
But in between the fades that they cause, the SFI is over 200.
I haven’t check K and A or SFI today, it’s a work day today. I get the email warnings about flares etc. now which is why I know.
Hope to get out up a big bu**er on Friday… better take 2m along just in case 
According to the QRZ home page SFI=204 A=7 K=1 but propquest shows the MUF barely hitting 21MHz so those flares seem to be ruining our fun.
NOAA SWPC has k at about 1.5 but that was for 3hrs ago. They have SFI at 204.
Roman,
Currently at around UTC midnight on 10 m on a VK3 summit it’s JA and W for best SSB DX. From home I can work a good number of EU stations on 10 m LP from 0600 UTC to 0700 UTC using FT8.
LP has been the most common mode of propagation here even for stations as close as 5,000 km. However the thumping great signals I have heard in the past aren’t there on 10 m so far for this cycle.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
I had a cracking time in Jan/Feb in California using 10m from my local SOTA to drum up so so many contacts into the UK/EU.
Hopefully that won’t be my cycle 25 high point!!
I might have known! No contacts from a portable (POTA) QRP activation this morning - the bands were HORRIBLE.
Worse than at Solar Minimum!
Ed.
VHF an option?
Like others here, I’ve observed that the NA to EU and NA to JA (short) paths have absolutely tanked over the last month or so. This is with respect to daylight hours at either or both end-points, when SOTA activity is common.
On the other hand, I’ve recently had generally good results chasing, and being chased by, SOTA participants in the southern hemisphere, limited in number though they may be. E.g., six QSOs on 10 m SSB with ZS summit activations last weekend.
Solar flares don’t explain what I have been observing. The HF black-out during a typical flare only lasts about 10 to 20 minutes. Flares are often immediately followed by hours or days of elevated solar flux which enhances propagation on the higher HF bands. The CME that may be associated with a flare arrives days after the flare occurs.
I believe the recent decline is due to what Frank, W3LPL, terms the F2 region diurnal summer anomaly. This phenomenon affects paths crossing the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during and leading up to our summer. The NA-EU and NA-JA short paths cross high northern latitudes; the NA-SA and NA-AF short paths do not.
If general-purpose DXers have been lauding good HF conditions, perhaps they’re making notable contacts on paths that do not cross high northern latitudes, e.g., NA-AS long path, and/or they are doing so at local times not necessarily conducive to SOTA activity, e.g., night.
Quoting a post by W3LPL on another reflector to which I subscribe:
So that covers 10 m and 12 m. What about the other HF bands? 40, 80 m are, as usual, closed to DX during the day due to D-layer absorption.
Low-angle propagation on 20 m is poor during daytime in the summer due to blanketing by the F1 and E layers, per W3LPL in a presentation available here: https://pvrc.org/W3LPL/HFPropagationTheRiseOfSolarCycle25.pdf
30 m NA to EU has been closed during the day, presumably for the same reasons as 40 m and/or 20 m.
That leaves 15 m and 17 m sandwiched in the middle. Those bands have in fact been my most productive for chasing EU SOTAs over the last few weeks, though they haven’t been great.
Mike, since May 2, my experience is very similar to yours. Most days bands are pretty mediocre, but on a few days, have improved, but never to GREAT conditions.
I’ll have to agree with most of the dismal reports. Haven’t worked a European SOTA since March on 10 or 15 meters. General conditions haven’t been very good. I get on the air every day in the mornings my local time (1400-1700 UTC) and the logs are looking pretty slim, even during contests. I always see a big hump of signals in the FT8 part of the bands, though. But who knows what those signals are? Most likely “local” (USA). Who needs it?
I have to dig deep to work the SOTA activators on most bands.
Not what I was expecting at this time of the sunspot cycle with sunspot numbers over 100 and high solar flux numbers. (Excluding flares, etc.)
73,
John, K6YK
