I’m not sure what’s going on, exactly, but for the past few weeks, I have been having major trouble with propagation on HF. I know that there’s nothing wrong with my antenna, because I have made some good contacts, but they are very sporadic. QSB (the fading in and out of signals) has been really bad.
I’ve been trying to (at least) get involved in all of the QSO Parties that have come along, without a whole lot of luck. Even in the North Dakota QSO Party I only made two contacts. Part of that was because after I tried for 2 or 3 hours, I finally just gave up and went out to clean my garage. There wasn’t a whole lot of BIC time that Saturday.
As I write this, the Florida QSO Party is happening. It’s 2pm, and I have only been able to hear one station (N4K) on 20 meters. I still haven’t made the contact, but with the QSB the way it is, I’m just waiting until he pops up out of the noise, again.
… and just after I typed that, he popped up and I made the contact. Now, I can’t hear him at all, again. Urgh!
I am completely aware that nothing makes more of a difference in making contacts on HF than the conditions. As long as you have a decent antenna, you really can talk around the world with 5 watts. There are so many factors that go into having the right conditions, though, I really think that it’s more of an art than a science. Beyond that, depending on what the conditions are like on any given day (or hour, for that matter) I actually feel like it’s more of a gamble than anything.
The key (in my opinion) is persistence. Spinning the dial, rather than watching the spotting networks. Having a good set of headphones. Trying different bands at different times of day (sometimes, even when you don’t think it should work).
Another helpful thing that I have found is that when propagation really “is” bad at your location, is to just take a break from it. There is no good that can come from being frustrated. There’s always next time.