It's that pesky solar cycle! Conventional wisdom states that at the peak of the solar cycle we get the best propagation for radio due to increased solar activity. Unfortunately, you can have too much of a good thing, and at the moment the sun is incredibly active with major CME events happening frequently. When one of these hits the ionosphere it can result in the ionosphere absorbing rather than reflecting high frequency radio radio waves. VHF on the other hand has sometimes been boosted by this and many Hams on the 6M band have reported amazing DX possibilities whilst the HF bands have been flat. This happens all the time, but has been particularly marked this year - so much so that some of the amateur radio youtubers have produced videos explaining it. For those that are interested, Ham Radio DX has produced a really clear presentation on the phenomenom. Even if the band seems flat, try putting out a call or two - you never know your luck!

Hi Fred at least you putting up this video other people will know it's not just them well done once again

It is the same down here in the Netherlands i have replaced my 5/8 wave antenna (Sirio Gain master) with the new President Himalaya 1/2 wave antenna and it is quiet. The 11 meter band is flat dead. Thanksgod i am not the only one.

Every Italian CB comes complete with a 500kw liner and echo chamber

Nice video, it hasn't been great on 11mtrs at all, luckily I'm recently licensed, and some good dx on 20 and 40mtrs but always listen on both 73s Fred keep them coming hopefully it will pick up soon👍

Here in the south east of France, some days there is nothing and all of of a sudden it opens like crazy mostly later in the afternoon around 5-6pm. I got to chat with a few stations from the south east of England, north of France, Germany, etc…and all this using my balcony antenna (Lemm Boomerang) plugged into my ftdx10 facing the Mediterranean see. Luckily I am only 150 meters from the shore with unobstructed view. Water helps!

Here in the states, northeast Texas, the skip has days where its just dead. Then we have days like yesterday (7-16-24) the skip was active from ALL directions....Ontario Canada, the state of Wisconsin (state) Dominican Republic, Australia...so much conversation there was no way to decipher who was who. Great video.

Having the same experience here in Manchester.

11 like 10 will start coming alive around September onwards - up until then it will just be the occasional day. I have really enjoyed the chaos of 11 when it is active - so refreshing to get through the mess even on legal power. As a ham I enjoy the priviledge of the ham bands but very rarely use them except in QRP mode.M7BLC

Listening to all bands not as good as it was years ago

Was going to come back on CB, but I decided to buy a WHISTLER TRX-2 SCANNER..... and love it. Great vid thanks.

Thank god it's not just me, been like this awhile.

Same for me in Stoke Fred dead as a dodo 😂👍 Love the videos, thanks

Fred. Been watching for years mate. In fact some of your videos inspired me to get going again with Radio.. So thank you for that... you know whats coming....Get yourself licensed and learn about propagation, antennas and a different way to operate and fall down the never ending rabbit hole that is Amateur Radio...contesting, digital modes, satellite tracking, vhf, uhf, building radio kit, experimenting etc etc...I am studying for my full now and I,m a complete nobber so If I can do it you definitely can. Obviously still do 11metres as its good fun and your a great ambassador for CB, but being licensed will give you operating options, plus make great youtube content and with your friendly presentation inspire thousands of others. Regards to you. Matthew 2E0YMB.

Hi Fred yes mate nothing and you are not the only one who thinks it the Ariel , but it's going to happen soon I can feel it IN my bones, cheers FRED and as per usual I left a thumbs up on your other video, take care of yourself and yours Alan from Leighton buzzard 💯👍

Frid in the shed your KZfaq videos are awesome my friend

Yep, Fred, same hier, Athlone area in Ireland! Tried everything, no joy! Booooring!

Hi Fred, It's been the same for me. I've only heard the odd Itallian or French breaker around tea/evening time. 10m has also been dead. HF bands only seem to be more active in the evening and the early hours of the morning. Been the odd uk short skip. I've been stuck with uk puppet band lol. 73 de 26 AK 249

Another good video Fred, yes i totally agree, bands are in a bad way after a promising rise in activity recently. Though late last night i was hearing central Scotland on usb around 27.505 mHz from here in the central South UK. Keep up the good work, from Enthusiastic Steve, 👍 ps if you ever want to do a joint video anytime i would be up for it. All the best.

Fred your right, acually it is very quied on Air. In Europa its Summerholiday. And till last Sunday was Football Europa leak. 73/55

Maybe its the new labour govt fred, theyve ahut down the airwaves 😂

It's been pretty busy in Australia...was getting New Zealand...alot of USA..Hawaii yesterday

Frid in the shed I learn lot from you about bying cb radios and antennas for cb radios and power supply for cb radios my friend

South East same

Puts me off coming back online after 40 odd years

Fred 11 has been open last few days I'm in NW UK and have made contacts to Brazil and all over Europe just look on the cluster the band does open sometimes mainly in the evening on the greyline

Dead in North Wales, a bit of picking up in the evening mainly Spain and France for me.

I thought my flashed (with egzumer) UV-K5(8) radio was faulty, I have been listening to 11m on USB for weeks with only static, but thanks to this vid I now feel better that it's not my radio! I am in Ukraine and I mentioned in the past that it might be Russian EW jamming, but you replied that you had contacts from Ukraine in the past at that time and it wasn't jamming, the band's just dead now, even here!

40m is alive at the moment, 20m and 17m were kicking for me this morning.

Had a little skip last night coming in from UK. Here in Germany try later Fred about 2200 hrs.. 13 df 278.

I've been listening in on SSB mobile on the Dorset coast with a Cobra 148GTL-DX (needs servicing on the tx side) and a rear tailgate-mounted K40 from around 8-10pm this week, and the bands are reasonably lively here to be fair.

We are being bombarded by CME's from the Sun. Which is killing not just 11m, but pretty much every band. It will get back to normal again, give it some time. 73

Same here in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA both 10 & 11 meters.

Hey up fred,I only listen on the triple fivewith me CB here, and your right, i've not heard zilch lately ! Its quiter than the local 2m repeaters, which is saying something :D

This makes me want to cancel my order for the new president rig

Dead here in AUST. also on 11meter ,20 and 40 meter is still very good in the late afternoons

Seeing this video from the future (11 days) beware of the solar flares on the 29th of July…😢1 73!

Yep, 10 & 11m DX has been sparse for a bit here at my QTH in the Cotswolds. The odd Sporadic E euro station does come through in the evening, and for an hour or so around sunset Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have been booming through, but not much else. The Sun giveth and the Sun takes away.

picks up a bit around sunset time at moment

The sun is more active than it was at the peak of Cycle 24, the channels should be full of European stations every day but it's been very quiet lately. I've lived through 4 previous solar peaks and this is the strangest of them all. Something very unusual going on....

Frid in the shed my hobbies are painting pictures 🖼 and listening to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my Grms license my friend

I have been getting a lot of france here in scotland and a little germany but conditions have defo dropped from the start of the year

Fancied getting back into SWL which I did around 30 odd years ago. Rather than fire up my FRG7700, I put batteries into my old Sony ICF2001. Hardly a thing could be heard across the bands at various times of day (in UK ) very disappointed as most bands used to be buzzing years ago. I suppose internet comms and phones have helped the demise of SW comms. Even CB is dead in my area now. Also tried PMR - nothing. Can only be thankful I lived through the ‘glory days’ of illegal CB and SWL where you could literally listen to the world most days and times. Can only hope a revival comes around, until then, the radios stay in the cupboard.

Same here Fred (I'm in Switzerland) QSO with Sardinia a week ago but it all sounds dead at the moment. 15CT006 73.

It's been dead for weeks, I'm lucky enough to WFH so always have my radio on the 555's. Just been receiving some European countries along with that idiot on the end of your video singing.

I normally check 10m first before 11m to see what conditions are doing high up HF especially the fm repeater in Switzerland. If 10m is quiet 11m usually is too and vice versa. Also check around the grey line times, there’s usually some activity around then. It maybe just conditions not nobody using it Last night on 17m I had a great path into Japan and Hong Kong

Dead as a Door nail all day up here in High Peak started coming through as the sun starts to go down

Europe have been coming in last hour of daylight most evenings here but in the day been very quiet, wifes happy with all decorating I’ve done while not on the radio lol😂

Same all over Fred I am a full licence holder and even these bands are dead...???? I managed a contact today in Morroco 1 operator in the whole sector...not good oh and there is nothing wrong with any of your equipment., so leave well alone..73s

Frid in the shed i wish you and your wife and kids 73s my friend

It's tending to come in later in evening here in Scotland, around 9pm getting Germany France Scandinavia etc but very unstable just now

quite a bit every day.. not as strong as usual but still there.. i think day 256 on my radio but i do digimodes so only need a drop... lol.. It will be back for homebasers... ger out on those hills if you have withdrawal symptoms

This is the third summer in a row like this according to my lop book, this one seems to be worse than the past two summers for skip, can only hope and pray that come around September time onwards it comes to life again. The past weeks seem like being at the cycle low point rather than towards the peak as it should be. Now I said that tomorrow it will be booming ... I hope. P.S. it was bad enough Spain winning the Euro cup and then we have to listen to the loons from there as well, I wonder why there is often skip to that part of the world. Location here East Midlands.

Hi Fred, all I'm getting especially at the weekends is idiots playing music on ch 19 fm ,Dorset ,England

It's been bead since the first week in May

Same as i thought was out in the field thought my walkie talkie was broken nothing

I temporary riged up a wier antenna sundy and heard west Germany and Italy i didn't tey to transmit because im unsure of the swr of the anttana

Always quiet this time of year regardless of sun spots, wait until autumn and it will go crazy again

Strange, very busy here in Australia, skip is found just about everywhere.

We are getting some very strong sunspots atm, this will last another week yet and will occasionally continue into 2025

Yesterday after nine pm , nice channel btw grtz 19fb001

The Netherlands the same😢😢😢

Yes the short wave bands at the moment are poor and 27 mhz is poor l thought my radios had a problem and l was getting not much skip on 27 c b band do you think that some one is jamming the c b bands l am getting a lot of noise here but l am using a poor antenna system at the moment so that might be a problem and l am using it inside anyways have a great weekend cheers from Melbourne Australia from Ray 73s

Pity it's gone quiet, even 385 is dead where I am

Fred I did my ham radio license during lockdown. Are you going to do it ? It didn’t take much study. It’s just nice to be able to use ham bands as well as 11 metres.

11m and 10m will be poor this time of year september onwards good. 20m and 40m have been good at night rest of the day bands have been rubbish 73

I'm the other side of Cambridge

27megs is often dead here as most CBers have migrated over to UHF

Much the same in Fife

Tecsun S-2000 receives well at 13.760 kHz (even better at 13.770 kHz) an English kind of documentary or news about China, Energy, renewable, economic growth etc., Germany, Freiburg, South-West corner, signal quality around 3 (red scale), antenna straight up, 2024-07-17, 19-48 pm

Thats very odd fred ...i am picking up loads ?? Lots Italian, french German ...and a load of muppet mexican....see you are getting that stupid guy also ...10m is pretty quiet though not talked to someone i usually chat with so who knows ?? ...be nice to see some of your cb action again...not heard a peep on 305 though... keep up the good work. Best Mac

I heard that bloke on 555 singing last night around 9.30 too, the nutter 😂

Not heard any USA stations for around six or eight weeks now.

is there any CB activity on the UK southcoast? going there for work in a couple of days. was thinking to bring my radio

It must be very frustrating to have a really nice hf rig and not be able to transmit on it.😢 I have the same rig and it works great. Is it able to be modified to transmit on 11meters?

skip on 11 meters is by times and not on all channels like it was few months ago was on every channel in nova scotia

I was considering getting back into homebase dxing from Ireland but looks like it maybe a bit of a gamble.

Today has been only the third day so far this year where the temperature has reached or exceeded 70ºF here in Leeds and it is the 17th July 2024.

Tuesday Afternoon 2pm M6 J1 area UK. nothing on any HAM band and nothing on SW broadcast either! All I had was Air band and FM/MW

I'm the same I thought it was just me, just got my radio out today, just my antenna up higher, and this happens now I'm sad little dxer, might try you later on the 305 net if you can hear me in Swindon :D

People mostly on on 555 are at the weekends

Been the same for me in east Yorkshire it's probably the Russians trying to block signals

Home made jammer may be

Weak signal modes like js8call on 27.245 is still coming through a bit but pretty much dead other than that.

But if no-one keys their mic because it sounds dead, it will stay dead?

I'm in amersham. cb is dead here no skip no one on just static.

Dead here in Basingstoke Hampshire Fred

I know what you mean it's dead I took my antenna down and checked it just incase 😢

Not heard the USA for ages, but keep getting people asking for a rig check because there is nothing

I think 27,555 is getting like the muppet channels,idiots playing music on the Dx calling channel,that’s not on ,losing faith

HF is bad enough but 11 meter is horrible…

A bit like the uk summer ,non existent

Get your Ham Ticket ! it's not that hard

Too many idiots on there a lately just FM so no one seems to talks now I don't bother because it's that bad but skip been quiet here in Sheffield nothing at all just odd olla olla coca cola lol

Too many cme nothing but static