[ADXA] 160 Meter Propagation

Sat Feb 14 14:07:25 EST 2026

On 80 meters I use my full size 4-square fabricated from 3-inch aluminum irrigation tubing for receiving. Even though it is also my TX antenna it is the best RX antenna for that band except in a very few unique situations.

Randy – 160-meter propagation has been awful this year, so don’t give up. Theoretically the band should improve in the coming years as we move into low sunspot activity.

73 Joel W5ZN

From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Randell Curtis, W5ZJ via ADXA
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2026 12:46 PM
To: steven.t.rutledge at gmail.com
Cc: adxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [ADXA] 160 Meter Propagation

I have been beat like a rented mule on the low bands. I admit my goal on 160 is to hear some new DX, and work some new DX until I get to 100. At this point I don't even know if this is possible with my station, at this location. I do know that some improvements have been made, especially on receive, but that is not enough. I am at the point that when the band is open, I can receive much better than I can transmit.. Apparently "Jethrine", the amp idoes not have enough muscle to cut through the band noise on the other end. To make the short story long. Improvement is needed here on all fronts. Just for the the record ZN', on 80 last night, you were giving AU7RS a -12 when I was hearing him at a -18. I don't know what you were using on receive. I never could get a response  inspite of him transmitting a ton of CQ's. Apparently he wasn't hearing many people that were calling. 

73 and good DXing

Randy/W5ZJ 

On Sat, 14 Feb, 2026 at 8:50 AM, Steven Rutledge <steven.t.rutledge at gmail.com <mailto:steven.t.rutledge at gmail.com> > wrote:

To: adxa at mailman.qth.net <mailto:adxa at mailman.qth.net> 

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 <mailto: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 <http://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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