2024: A Summer Without E-Skip

Diagram of E-skip propagation (credit: VK3FS)

When I judge an E-skip season, I base this on the number of openings that have reached a maximum usable frequency into the FM broadcast band (in the United States, 87.75-108 MHz) and the number of new FM logs heard via E-layer skip. In the 32 years that I have been DXing from my present location in Hazelwood, MO, I've only had two seasons without E-skip reaching the FM broadcast band: 1995 and 2002. Add 2024 to that list.

I only had two E-skip openings during this year's skip season, both of which only reached a maximum usable frequency of 50.125 MHz. One was on May 1, when I contacted a Ham in Quebec on the MUF. The other one was on June 23 (Field Day), when I heard stations on the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana. I could not make contact with any stations that day. I checked conditions almost daily, and found the "Magic Band" totally clear. No one calling CQ. This year, it's been mostly tropospheric enhancement up to 250 miles (402 km).

In reviewing my logs, I only had a handful of E-skip openings in 2002, all of them reaching the lower VHF Public Service bands(which I added in December 2000). I didn't add 6 Meter capability until the fall of 2006. In the pandemic year of 2020, I only had one opening with a MUF in the FM broadcast band, reaching 88.5 MHz into New England. This is the exact opposite of the conditions I had in the transitional year of 2009, when I caught several analog "nightlight" operations on low-band VHF in the month after TV in the United States switched to digital. I had excellent E-skip seasons the first two full seasons at my present location, 1993 and 1994. The last decent skip season I had was 2014. I missed the skip seasons in 2016 and 2017 not only to concentrate on my health, but also due to the loss of my TV and FM antennas in an April 2016 severe thunderstorm. The last three skip seasons (2021, '22 and '23) were rather lackluster. This summer, I've been spending more DX time on AM (MW) and Shortwave than on FM. I've been checking the NOAA Weather Radio bands for signs of tropo. I've had four E-skip openings reach a MUF above 162 MHz: one in 2004 (MUF 162.400 MHz to New Jersey), another in 2012 (162.475 MHz to the Mid-Atlantic), 2014 (162.400 MHz to Arizona and New Mexico) and 2015 (162.400 MHz to Texas).

I hope the tropo season is better. Last year, at the end of August and the beginning of September, I encountered tropo openings on August 21-23 into KS, NE, IA, MN and SD, August 24 into the Mid-South and September 2 to the western Great Lakes. Who knows what this year will bring in tropo?