Ham

Questions about the consistency of solar weather information on propagation for #amateurradio #hamradio #vk

Andrew Woodward

I posted the following in the Australian Amateur (Ham) Radio Facebook Group. I will publish replies as they come in.

Four services screenshot within minutes of each other

I have had my foundation licence for over a year now and am loving the many and varied aspects of the hobby. 

One of the more interesting aspects is space weather conditions. It’s fascinating. When I was an original SWL and DX hobbyist back in the 80’s and 90’s, I relied upon DX Shows on international broadcasters like Radio Nederlands for space weather information. Rathole: Here’s a great link to the show. This was mandatory listening every Thursday night (I think) in Australia (was it 9770 kHz?). 

Jump forward 40 years and there’s so much space weather information. Too much some might say. What I am finding is some contradictory information. I guess some of the services update at different intervals and I notice they categorise bands by day and night. 

But with the extreme conditions in recent weeks, I have noticed some significant variations between the tools I have been using. I am posing a few questions in this post and feedback is welcome. And please don’t say, watch YouTube, read this or ham-splain. I am a simple guy (albeit with two Master’s Degrees) who just wants something simple and localised.

The graphic below is from my computer with four different services all screenshot within a few minutes of each other:

  • It appears W5MMW, HamQSL and Ham-Toolbox all take information from NOAA and are consistent
  • DXLook is very different globally and locally to the above three (and yes global and local are expected to be different.

A few questions: 

  1. How can the difference between DXLook and the others be explained?
  2. If they are using NOAA information and categorising by day and night, is this US day and night or day or night at my location (Australian east coast). Do I have to make any adjustments.

I have had a look at the Australian Space Weather Service and its choc full of what would appear to be great information. But I am after something simple. I use this map to give me a quick take on the state of play.  Am I looking at the right thing?

DX View has some good localised and live information (and some good background as does DX Predictor.

So, I am after a simple page where I can get a snapshot telling me whether it’s worth my while playing with the radio or I should go off and do something else . 

Thanks and 73’s

Andrew, VK2AWN

5 February 2026