Challenges in HF Radio: Navigating Changing Band Conditions, 10th February 2026

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I was pleased t receive this award soon after the one before. The bands were alive in 2025, but it is a different story now. I am finding it very difficult if not impossible to work stations in New South Wales and Victoria in daylight. There seems to have been plenty of action on the sun, flares and storms, often generating auroras and beautifal skies but challenging conditions for HF radio operators.

Hunter Award 1300 contacts

Chasing activators has become more challenging in 2026 as a result of changing band conditions. The sun has become active. This activity, including flares and storms, affects users of the high frequency radio spectrum and can lead to radio blackouts where signals are not heard or heard only intermittently with increased noise.

Noise generated by human activity (QRM) increases the noise floor, that is, the background noise heard before a wanted signal is found. The background noise makes ‘copying’ the wanted signal harder to hear whilst competing with the noise. The QRP and weak signals heard and copied during daylight hours was common place, now it is very difficult or impossible and I spend more time on the higher bands where I have more success.

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