[ADXA] 160 Meter Propagation

[Steven Rutledge]

Joel is right.  I got up early hoping to catch some Asian stations on 
80.  It was dead as a door-nail.  I'll try again tomorrow morning.

73, Steve, N4JQQ

On 2/14/2026 8:06 AM, w5znjoel at gmail.com wrote:
>
> It is well known among the ADXA folks that I am passionate about 160 
> meters in my quest to reach the 300 DXCC country mark on the band. I’m 
> currently at 292. Actually, passionate is not the right word, 
> addiction is more appropriate.
>
> In the past 20 years I have spent countless days perfecting and 
> tweaking multiple receive antenna systems to the point that now I’m 
> happy if I can make just one-tenth of a dB improvement either in the 
> forward lobe or noise reduction. I spent weeks building a TX antenna 
> system that provided gain in switchable directions. This has all been 
> time well spent but there is one thing that I still cannot conquer, 
> understand, or control and that is 160-meter propagation - at times it 
> makes me pee like a puppy! If I want to attempt to learn and 
> understand something about low band propagation I go to the master 
> Carl, K9LA or “The Godfather” Frank W3LPL but even they will tell you 
> predictions are just that, a prediction of what might occur. Prior to 
> their knowledge and experience being published Bob Brown, NM7M (SK), 
> published several articles on 160-meter propagation and is regarded by 
> all as THE subject matter expert on this topic. Bob was a Physicist at 
> Cal Berkley and professionally considered an expert in the upper 
> atmosphere and geomagnetosphere. Thankfully K9LA has retained a lot of 
> Bob’s work on his website at k9la.us in the 160-meter section. One 
> paper is NM7M The Big Gun's Guide to Low-Band Propagation 
> <https://k9la.us/NM7M_The_Big_Gun_s_Guide_to_Low-Band_Propagation.pdf> 
> Its a 120 page document but if you’re serious about 160 meter DX, turn 
> off the TV and read this paper!
>
> Simple math tells us if 80 meters is open to a particular area there 
> is a good possibility 160 meters may be also. If 160 meters is open to 
> a specific area then you can bet the ranch that 80 meters will be 
> bursting wide open with DX.
>
> To quote Lee Corso “NOT SO FAST!” and the past two mornings have been 
> excellent examples. Yesterday morning, and this morning as well, the 
> 160-meter band was wide open to JA, they were “wall to wall” and the 
> band stayed open until 25 minutes past our sunrise. I monitor 80 
> meters on my second radio in the morning and 80 meters was grave yard 
> DEAD! There were a bunch of USA stations on but nothing whatsoever 
> beyond our borders. I don’t understand it and I can’t explain it, but 
> it was very interesting to observe and document.
>
> The lesson here is not about my station or my 160-meter pursuit to 
> 300, but about propagation and regardless of what predictions you hear 
> it is simply just like predicting the weather. You MUST be ready to 
> get in there at any time because any band may open unpredictably and 
> one band’s opening does not guarantee another will be. And that 
> opening may only last a minute or two!
>
> In the BIG DOG game of DX, you must have your station ready and be 
> able to jump into action at any one moment so you can “GET IN THERE!”
>
> 73 Joel W5ZN
>
>
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