The AM Forum

The bands have been nearly unusable the last few days, much static.

I can understand this in July, but what causes static crashes in the colder wx?

The same thing that causes it in summer - thunderstorms.  According to the thunderstorm map, there have been quite a few of them lately.

Sometimes, storms that have moved hundreds of miles out into the Atlantic can still play havoc.

https://thunderstorm.vaisala.com/tux/jsp/explorer/explorer.jsp (https://thunderstorm.vaisala.com/tux/jsp/explorer/explorer.jsp)

Some years, November through early December is the best period of the radio season.  I can recall numerous years when band condx were good, but a weather front moved through the week between Xmas and New Years day, bringing with it stormy weather, that never quite went away for the remainder of the season.  There was one year back in the early 80's when the entire winter was more typical of summertime condx than winter.

We can only hope that the present high static period will go away, and leave us some more quiet band condx during January and February.  But I wouldn't bet life or fortune on it.  March seems to be a toss-up.  Sometimes it is quiet and winter like, but other years it is noisy and spring like.

I check the thunderstorm map before going out to the shack, turning on the heat and firing up the rig.  If the map shows a high amount of storm actvity within 600-800 miles, I usually don't bother.

The same thing that causes it in warm weather......hot and cold air colliding. The temperatures have been unusally warm for this time of year and the atmosphere has been unstable with a lot of frontal activity.
Also, with the bands going (or staying) so long, even electrical discharges in the atmosphere at considerable distances are propagating to your (and my) wireless aerials.

We need the cold air up in Canada to move down!!!

We had nasty thunderstorms in the Midwest on Monday - a tornado went through town.  Summer weather = summer QRN.

Think temperature difference, not absolute temp at your locality.

Cool, ok I am learning something here.

So cool air meeting warm air, even if its thousands of miles away, creates electrical discharges which show up as QRN?
Interesting indeed. I have always thought of the winter has prime radio time.

So much for that idea.

So where does one go to play radio when this occurs?
20 meters and up is crapped out in the evening.
I suppose 2 meter CB is an option....but I'd rather pass.

If the Vaisala map is correct, there is little or no lightning activity in the US right now. The bands should be FB.

Bite your tongue!

Fly up to 6 meters and have some fun. Ya never know what the propagation is going to bring from day to day, hour to hour. And lots of room to spread out. Want to do 10 or 15 KHz wide AM or 8 KHz SSB; no one has a problem with that on 6 meters.

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