Welcome to SkyWave-Radio the study of HF radio communications.
This study focuses on HF radio communications with the primary goal of bridging the gap between theory and on the air operation. At the core of the website is an in-depth book covering the many aspects of skywave radio communications. Supplementing the book are PowerPoint presentations which taken together constitutes a lecture series on HF Radio Communications. On the operational side, the website provides in-depth current ionospheric weather conditions, tools useful in planning and executing radio operations, plus experimental data validating the tools and various operational scenarios. I hope that you find the website useful.
Ken Larson KJ6RZ, skywave.hfradio@gmail.com
The intense May 2024 geomagnetic and ionospheric storms severely affected radio communications. These storms also produced stunning Northern Lights visible as far south as Southern California. For details see article “Severe May 2024 Geomagnetic and Ionospheric Storms” under the Short Articles tab.
Solar Parameters
CLICK THE REFRESH BUTTON ON YOUR BROWSER TO UPDATE THE DATA.
This data has been graciously provided by NONBH. Click on NONBH under links to visit his extensive NONBH HF Propagation website.
An interesting adventure is combining amateur radio with RV travel, particular experimenting with dependable communications any time, from any where, under any conditions. One such adventure, quite some time ago, was particularly eye opening. We pulled into a wonderful little campground in Canada along a small river completely surrounded by high mountains. As we pulled in it occurred to me that I had not seen a telephone, or any signs of civilization in over a hundred miles. There certainly were no cell phones or repeaters around. I wondered how people at the campground would call for help if there were a serious emergency. I fired up my radio to see who I could contact. At the time I was using a vertical HF antenna on the RV. When I turned on the radio all the bands were dead. I was not quite sure why that was since we were in a good part of the solar cycle. I had heard of near vertical incident skywave (NVIS) and wondered if that would help in this mountainous terrain? I decided to give it a try. I climbed up on top of the RV, disconnected the vertical and remounted it horizontally. When I turned the radio back on, 40 meter signals were booming in. I easily worked stations in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and may places in between. That NVIS thing really worked! Today I carry both vertical and horizontal HF antennas in the RV to easily adapt to current situations.
Research for this website can be really tough.