Good time for Hawai'i

Making contact with Hawai'i from the UK is always very special.  Though not especially difficult or uncommon, it's still a very long haul DX that takes our imagination, if not our bodies, to the 'other side' of the world.

It appears that, over on 14MHz, now is a good time, as it often is as we move towards equinoxes.  This morning, the opening to Maui, indicated by my 1W WSPR (vertical delta loop) was two hours long, with the Proppy HF model predicting this to be entirely long path - a distance of 28,660km.

My 1W received at AI6VN/KH6 this morning (August 05, 2021).

Proppy HF model output for 06:00UT.

Using 20-50W on FT8, or a more sensitive mode such as JT65 or JT9, means two-way QSOs should be fairly easy.  From the seaside, it should be very easy, probably good enough for a SSB QSO on a few Watts.