Solar activity continues to drop - good 11 MHz signals

As at March 17 2011, the 10.7 cm solar flux had dropped to 95, and the daily
SSN to 41. These are very low levels, even though solar cycle 24 is
progressing slowly!

So not much action above 12 MHz for multi-hop long-haul transmissions over
darkness paths.

I did some research in the 11 MHz band yesterday in the Warrandyte State
Park, 30 mins from here, 20 km east of central Melbourne. This was at the
eastern end of the Pound Bend Picnic area, next to the Yarra. The Eton E5
and a 3 m random antenna yielded many signals in the mid afternoon window,
0430 to 0500, with longpath dominating from Europe, Africa, and the Middle
East and shortpath from Asia and the Americas.

This summary of key occupancies of March 17 may be of interest

11640 IRAN VOIRI Turkish *0500
11645 GREECE VOG Greek *0500
11740 EGYPT R. Cairo, Setswana
11805 UZBEKISTAN CVC-Tashkent Hindi
11815 BRAZIL R. Brazil Central
11860 CYPRUS BBC English
11870 USA WEWN Spanish
11895 ROMANIA English
11925 IRAN VOIRI Hebrew
11935 IRAN VOIRI Dari
11980 TAJIKISTAN RFA-Dushanbe Chinese
12010 CUBA RHC Spanish
12015 SRI LANKA R. Farda, Iranawela, Farsi
12025 IRAN VOIRI Russian *0500
12030 RUSSIA VOA-Petropavlovsk English
12035 CYPRUS BBC English
12040 CUBA RHC Spanish
12070 RUSSIA VOR-Moscow Russian