so ive been calling CQ on 7.250 for like the past three evenings and just... nothing. maybe a few russian stations but they fade out before we can finish an exchange. i dunno if its the band conditions or if people just arent on as much anymore. my antenna situation hasnt changed, still running the same old dipole ive had up since 2019, so i dont think its me. just feels quieter than usual lately and i cant tell if im imagining it.

anyone else noticing this or is it just my part of the country

yeah 40 has been kinda rough this week, i had the same thing tuesday night. tried moving down to 7.185 and got a couple guys but the QSB was terrible. heard someone mention solar flux has been doing weird things but honestly i dont really follow that stuff closely enough to know if thats actually the reason

I've actually been having decent luck on 40 but I usually get on around 0200 local when the long path stuff opens up. Might be worth trying later if you haven't. Also side note your dipole might be worth checking the feedline just to rule it out, mine had a corroded PL-259 that was killing my signal for months before I figured it out.