Radio Propagation

There are hundreds of books published and web sites that give very detailed information on radio propagation. This page provides links to some sources for learning about propagation as well as applications showing current propagation conditions.

Radio propagation is effected by many different things such as the time of day, season of the year and weather conditions both where you are at and where the DX station is located. Below are some sites and applications specifically for propagation conditions.

VOACAP Propagation Planner

VOACAP HF Point-to-Point Propagation Predictions

The application below is provided by Hamqsl.com:

If you don’t understand all the information is that is shown in the above banner, I found an article in the February 2014 issue of QST, “Solar Banners – A Propagation Resource” by Steve Sant Andrea, AG1YR, that explains how and why it was derived, and what it means for you as you prepare to get on the air?  The article is too large to be placed on the downloads page but it can be downloaded from here.

The applications below are provided by Rigreference.com:

The largest factor determining propagation conditions on Earth is Space Weather. Solar conditions happening on the sun will either make or break radio propagation and DX conditions on Earth. As sun spots and solar conditions go through an 11 year cycle, conditions change literally minute by minute. Below are some sites and applications specifically for space weather.