Giovanni Rossi

I've been diving deeper into propagation prediction and keep seeing references to both K-index and A-index in the solar data. The three main items you want to pay attention to are the SFI (Solar Flux Index), the K-Index and the A-Index, but I'm still confused about the practical difference between K and A indices. I understand that K index readings below 3 generally mean good stable conditions, and above 3 can mean high absorption of radio waves, but when should I be looking at A-index instead? And how do these relate to actual band conditions for HF work? Currently seeing K=2, A=7 - is this good for a 20m POTA activation this weekend?

honestly i still blank on Juliett sometimes, like my brain wants to say Juliet without the second T and then i second guess myself mid-transmission which is probably worse than just saying the wrong thing lol. been licensed 3 years. the phonetic alphabet is one of those things that feels like it should be easy and then just isnt under pressure.

Yeah that sounds like it could be the coax getting pinched under the door sill, thats pretty common. When you close the door it puts pressure on the cable and if the shield gets compromised even a little you get all kinds of weird noise. I had basically the same problem in my Tacoma, ended up having to re-route it through the firewall instead which was more work but way cleaner. The RG-58 isnt helping you either honestly. It's fine for short runs but for a mobile install where the cable is getting flexed and bent constantly it tends to fail faster. Most people use LMR-240 or at least some decent RG-8X for mobile work. Also worth checking that your mag mount is giving you a good ground through the roof, sometimes those little rubber feet get dirty and suddenly you lose your ground plane and everything goes to hell noise wise. Might try wiping down the contact point and see if anything changes.

Finally got my 80-10m off-center fed dipole built and up at 35 feet. Used 88' long leg and 44' short leg with a 4:1 current balun. SWR results are impressive - under 1.5:1 on 80, 40, 20, 17, 10 and 6 meters without tuner. 15m is around 1.7:1 which is acceptable, but 12m is off the charts requiring an ATU. Built with #14 stranded THNN wire and ceramic end insulators. Anyone else seeing similar performance with the standard 133' OCFD formula, or should I consider shortening to 130' for better band coverage?