Solar minimum got you down?

[nomadradio]

The big CB boom of the mid-1970s had a lot of people with a CB radio in the car who had never heard of CB before the media discovered it. The hype was incredible. Even Hollywood got into the act.

Always wondered what kind of coincidence it was that this happened at the very bottom of the sunspot cycle. Around 1977 or so we started getting a lot of calls asking for "noise filters". Learned to ask if the "noise" was mostly being heard during the day.

"Does it sound like a dozen stations all keyed up and talking at the same time?".

Learned to tell them the only filter that would help was labeled "Off".

The skip was coming back. And with a vengeance. By 1979 or so the skip was back night and day. Talking across town had been easy a year or two before, and got harder and harder to do.

By 1980 the CB boom was a CB bust. All but a handful of brands had gone under. Closeout radios at RatShack were selling for one-third or one-fourth of the original list prices. Johnson, Robyn, Fanon and Courier radios were going for a quarter or less on the dollar. GE, Sears and JC Penneys all dropped CB like a hot potato.

And the skip was just a-rollin'.

Coincidence?

73

 

[Redbeard U812]

Just like the skip myself. I have had some good conversations at 900+ miles out from down here in south TX. Not to many talk local down here. Maybe a couple. Don't even get a Drunk at Large Report down here......I think they are all drunk. No locals to keep tabs on cop stops like the good ole days in south AL. Have some drivers in day time, but they are usually trying to find the right gate to the plant. I do have some fun some times ......I have sent them to the wrong gate. Shame on me....but it was sooo much fun.

 

[walterjn]

Nice thing is that I'm starting to hear Australia again in the evening. I hear them, they're not moving the needle, however I'm hearing them. Not a chance in Hades to make contact with them right now.

 

[Redbeard U812]

Nice thing is that I'm starting to hear Australia again in the evening. I hear them, they're not moving the needle, however I'm hearing them. Not a chance in Hades to make contact with them right now.

From time to time I actually make contact with PR, DR, and West Indies from Gulf Coast. The ones from PR and DR are on Cobra's. Pretty sure West Indies is a ham operator with a beam.

 

[oldtymer]

Nice thing is that I'm starting to hear Australia again in the evening. I hear them, they're not moving the needle, however I'm hearing them. Not a chance in Hades to make contact with them right now.

The ZL & VK stations have been coming in here in western NC on 40 between 07:00
& 08:00 zulu but with all the storms the last 4 nights down in the Gulf & off shore Georgia it is not possible to work them, just too damn noisy.

 

[Dmans]

GEORGIA 1 smoking everyone.

Georgia1-David has a nice station. Plenty of antenna choices, lots of wire radials on/under ground and a non-Metro location-i.e. less receive noise.

Also has a handful of rebuilt amplifiers and a few more in the works!

73's
David

 

[Mustang 131]

Finally got a chance to remove the cobwebs from my Shovkwave..
It's a guarantee...everytime I take down my beam the DX opens up.

 

[S&W357]

DX opened this afternoon about 3:30 in Central North Carolina. I was setting things up to hand-load some .38 Special shot shells while listening to radio. DX got me distracted.

Made several good contacts/conversations all on 38 LSB to the following:

110...NW Louisiana

CM232...Shreveport Louisiana

Pancho...near New Orleans

Whiskey 190...near New Orleans

45...New Orleans

586...East Texas

147...NE Texas

152...Barbados

Then the direction seemed to shift

1919...Virginia near Blue Ridge Pkwy

143...Delaware.

Then I quit and loaded the .38 shot shells.

DX still coming in strong a few hours later all from South of The Boarder...solid on SSB and AM and I have NO IDEA what they are saying.

I just tried ordering two Chicken Burritos, a side of refried beans, and a couple of Modelo beers but I was rudely ignored.

 

[Redbeard U812]

Welcome to my world.

 

[Cutlass327]

I was scrolling thru the bands and heard nothing but Spanish on many of the channels, even 9, on upper and lower.

I still only hear those around Daytona beach and Georgia when I hear skip. This was the first time I have heard anything else in years.

As for rather talking local vs skip. Well, IF there was local to talk to regularly, I might have to try that!

 

[walterjn]

The other day I heard 737 Montego Bay, Jamaica. He was pretty loud, I was just enjoying listening to him & didn't try calling for him. He faded out 5 minutes later. Then new Mexico started coming in again.

 

[Rick330man]

I keep picking up some guy in Trinidad. The U.S. skip rarely comes in down here, but it does occasionally happen. The last few times it was the Florida panhandle and the Carolinas coming in.

The good side of not having skip is that I can talk from house to boat on CB for 20 miles with very little difficulty. That's important in an area like down here where cell phone service over the water is oftentimes spotty and rarely is good for more than 8 - 10 miles.

 

[BJ radionut]

Space Weather News for April 11, 2019

http://spaceweather.com

https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com


SOLAR CYCLE UPDATE: An international panel of researchers led by NASA and NOAA has released a new prediction for the solar cycle. According to their analysis, the current solar minimum is going to deepen, potentially reaching a century-class low in the next year or so. This will be followed by a new Solar Max in the years 2023-2026.
Visit today's edition of Spaceweather.com to learn how this affects space weather and life on Earth.


NEW: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and get an instant text message when geomagnetic storms are underway.

Goodie! 4 MORE years equall to or LESS than we have NOW!!!

 

[BJ radionut]

Experts Predict a Long, Deep Solar Minimum
If the panel is correct, already-low sunspot counts will reach a nadir sometime between July 2019 and Sept 2020, followed by a slow recovery toward a new Solar Maximum in 2023-2026.

https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/04/10/experts-predict-the-solar-cycle/

“As you can see – we haven’t quite reached the lowest levels of the last cycle – where we experienced several consecutive months with no sunspots. However, the panel expects that we should reach those levels [between now and the end of 2020].”
The panel predicts a “fairly weak” Solar Cycle 25.

 

[BJ radionut]

Looks like BAD A$$ Beams(and more power)
for 20 and 40 meters or it's no DX Boys

Pretty much means 15 MHZ up will be pretty much a WASTELAND