Radio Preppers

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: cockpitbob on September 22, 2017, 04:33:00 PM

Title: Propagation Predictors: Will my signal get there?
Post by: cockpitbob on September 22, 2017, 04:33:00 PM
Who uses what to see if their signal will get there?

For HF, I've been using the app DroidProp. It's a little clunky, but I love how it presents the information because it tells you what band will work now plus later in the day. It grabs the latest ionosphere info from the web before making its prediction.

Below is the output for the following setup:
Tx: Home
Rx: Houston, Tx
Mode: CW
Power: 100W

Horizontal Axis: Time (24hr GMT). Vertical line is the time right now.
Vertical Axis: Frequency MHz

Red means Very likely to make the contact. It looks like 20 and 17 meters are rock solid right now.
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/cockpitbob/Screenshot_2017-09-22-16-07-13_zpsoq96op1k.png)


For VHF/UHV I just found http://lrcov.crc.ca/main (http://lrcov.crc.ca/main)
You input the Tx and Rx antenna height and polarization, power, frequency then click on the map the Tx location and pull a box for the Rx area you want to see. Here's my home for 50W on 2 meters.

One thing it doesn't seem to do is account for the 100' hill across the street from me. Still, it's pretty nice and in general seems to agree with my experiences.
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/cockpitbob/2m%20coverage_zpsc1ickpl2.jpg)


So, what do you use?
Title: Re: Propagation Predictors: Will my signal get there?
Post by: gil on September 23, 2017, 02:20:50 AM
I use MUF Predictor, the MUF 360 option...

Gil.