so ive been trying to get on 20m most evenings this week and its just been all over the place. like one night ill work a station in Japan no problem and then the next night i cant even hear anything past maybe 500 miles. i know propagation does its thing but this feels different somehow, maybe the solar flux stuff? i dunno i havent really kept up with the solar cycle news as much as i should. anyway just curious if anyone else is noticing it or if its just my antenna situation being garbage as usual lol

yeah 20m has been doing that for me too, some nights its absolutely wide open and others its like a dummy load. i've been checking the DXmaps site and the solar flux index has been bouncing around quite a bit lately. honestly just part of cycle 25 doing its thing. 40m has been treating me better for domestic stuff in the evenings if you havent tried that yet.

same here. hit a guy in New Zealand last Tuesday on 15m of all places, totally random. then last night nothing. ham radio is weird and i love it