[ADXA] JA's on 160 This Morning

[EJ Jones]

I was thinking more in relation to the absolute temperature outside on a given winter day. If you have a warm spell where it’s 70° during the day and 50 at night as opposed to a high of 30° during the day and 10° at night.  Does it make a difference?

also, there’s a lot more activity at 160 at the low end of a sun spot cycle because there’s nothing going on in the higher frequencies so the band seems better
EJ

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From: w5znjoel at gmail.com <w5znjoel at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 9:34:13 AM
To: 'EJ Jones' <k5ej at outlook.com>; 'ADXA' <adxa at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: RE: [ADXA] JA's on 160 This Morning


Yes atmospheric conditions obviously have an effect on 160. We all know the sun kills 160 meters so the reason the prop gets better when its “chilly” is there is much less sun light in winter, days are shorter and the QRN is gone as well. And right at sunrise and sunset, aka the “gray line” has an enhancement as well.



Carl, K9LA, who is a past ADXA conference special guest and has presented during one of our virtual meetings is one of the recognized authorities on 160 meter prop. Bob Brown did considerable research as well. I can’t recall Bob’s call, he was up in W7 land.



73 Joel W5ZN/ZF2ZN



From: EJ Jones <k5ej at outlook.com>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 8:23 AM
To: w5znjoel at gmail.com; 'ADXA' <adxa at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [ADXA] JA's on 160 This Morning



160/80 have been improving over the last few days. I think the recent  solar event blew things up pretty bad.   I actually worked into Japan on 160 as early as October 21 this year but things went downhill in late October.  Conditions on 160 into Europe were better last night too.

Not sure if it’s related to the sunspot cycle or just randomness, but some years are certainly better than others on  160.

Joel, do you think atmospheric conditions have much effect on 160?   Seems like when it gets really chilly out things improve.

EJ







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From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net>> on behalf of w5znjoel at gmail.com<mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com> <w5znjoel at gmail.com<mailto:w5znjoel at gmail.com>>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2025 7:19:02 AM
To: 'ADXA' <adxa at mailman.qth.net<mailto:adxa at mailman.qth.net>>
Subject: [ADXA] JA's on 160 This Morning



GM ADXA Folks,



This morning was the first time this “season” that we had prop to JA on 160-meters. There were a couple on CW and a few on FT8. Sigs were very good.



160-meter conditions have been bad so far however for me it never seems to open up until around the end of the year once winter finally sets in. It is a long standing theory that 160-meter propagation works opposite of the sunspot cycle, that is when sunspot activity is high and the higher bands are alive the low bands are dead. There is some data to support such a conclusion but not sufficient to stake a factual claim on. Some of the old 160-meter guys that hang out on the ON4KST Low Band Chat page are already claiming this is the absolute worst 160-meter conditions ever……..those same folks said the exact same thing last year, the year before, and ten years ago. ADXA folks are smart enough to reach a conclusion on that series of statements!



The bottom line on 160-meters is it is really somewhat similar to 6-meters. The propagation methods are much different but they are unpredictable. If you’re interested in “upping” your totals on 160-meters the only way to do so is to GET IN THERE and LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN.



73 Joel W5ZN / ZF2ZN


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