{"id":15361,"date":"2025-09-11T18:42:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T13:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=15361"},"modified":"2025-09-12T11:17:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:47:36","slug":"never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a49Wv8iT3mg?si=FCFCkBFctyeg8afL\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today evening I was quite surprised to hear a very strong signal on 20m from VU2GNL, just 283.6 km from  my location. That was on 14.215 MHz at 5.11 pm local time. Estimated planetary K index at that time was around 3. SFI was 119 as per the Solar-Terrestrial Data provided by N0NBH on QRZ.COM. Solar Flux Index is a measurement of the radio noise emitted by the Sun at a wavelength of 10.7 cm (2800 MHz). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Usually at this time of the day I hear stations from Central and North India very well, but Kerala stations will be on skip and inaudible. Should be some peculiar ionospheric condition to have such a short hop of signals on 20m. He was on barefoot 100 W with in an inverted V dipole antenna with apex at about 15m from the ground. That is really a fantastic performance indeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was using my full wave loop antenna mounted almost like an inverted V folded dipole, continuous with a 10m homebrew ladder line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was a homebrew 4:1 balun at the other end of the ladder line, connected to 183 cm of HLF 200 coax. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The coax in turn was connected to a homebrew common mode choke and then to my FT-710 radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That it is Short Skip Propagation and occurs when MUF is quite high. Maximum Usable Frequency is the highest radio frequency that can be used for long-distance skywave communication by reflecting off the ionosphere. It is the highest frequency at which a radio signal transmitted at a non-vertical angle will be bent back to Earth for a given communication path and time. MUF varies with the time of day, distance, direction, and solar activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today evening I was quite surprised to hear a very strong signal on 20m from VU2GNL, just 283.6 km from my location. That was on 14.215 MHz at 5.11 pm local time. Estimated planetary K index at that time was around 3. SFI was 119 as per the Solar-Terrestrial Data provided by N0NBH on QRZ.COM. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today evening I was quite surprised to hear a very strong signal on 20m from VU2GNL, just 283.6 km from my location. That was on 14.215 MHz at 5.11 pm local time. Estimated planetary K index at that time was around 3. SFI was 119 as per the Solar-Terrestrial Data provided by N0NBH on QRZ.COM. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-11T13:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-12T05:47:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1208\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Johnson Francis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"headline\":\"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station!\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-11T13:12:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-12T05:47:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":288,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/\",\"name\":\"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-11T13:12:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-12T05:47:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg\",\"width\":1208,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/\",\"name\":\"Johnson's Techworld\",\"description\":\"Johnson&#039;s Techworld\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\",\"name\":\"Johnson Francis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/channels4_profile.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/channels4_profile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/channels4_profile.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Johnson Francis\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/channels4_profile.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Amateur Radio Operator VU2JO. Originally licensed as VU2JFP with Grade 1 license in 1985. Upgraded to Advanced Grade in 1988 and was allotted new callsign to VU2JO\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/@johnsonstechworld\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/author\\\/jf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","og_description":"Today evening I was quite surprised to hear a very strong signal on 20m from VU2GNL, just 283.6 km from my location. That was on 14.215 MHz at 5.11 pm local time. Estimated planetary K index at that time was around 3. SFI was 119 as per the Solar-Terrestrial Data provided by N0NBH on QRZ.COM. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/","og_site_name":"Johnson&#039;s Techworld","article_published_time":"2025-09-11T13:12:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-12T05:47:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1208,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Johnson Francis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Johnson Francis","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/"},"author":{"name":"Johnson Francis","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/#\/schema\/person\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027"},"headline":"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station!","datePublished":"2025-09-11T13:12:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-12T05:47:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/"},"wordCount":288,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/#\/schema\/person\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg","articleSection":["Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/","url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/","name":"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station! - Johnson&#039;s Techworld","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-11T13:12:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-12T05:47:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-Kerala-station.jpg","width":1208,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/never-heard-such-a-strong-signal-on-20m-from-a-kerala-station\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Never heard such a strong signal on 20m from a Kerala station!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/#website","url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/","name":"Johnson's Techworld","description":"Johnson&#039;s Techworld","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/#\/schema\/person\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/#\/schema\/person\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027","name":"Johnson Francis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/channels4_profile.jpg","url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/channels4_profile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/channels4_profile.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"Johnson Francis"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/channels4_profile.jpg"},"description":"Amateur Radio Operator VU2JO. Originally licensed as VU2JFP with Grade 1 license in 1985. Upgraded to Advanced Grade in 1988 and was allotted new callsign to VU2JO","sameAs":["https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@johnsonstechworld\/"],"url":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/author\/jf\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15361"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15367,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15361\/revisions\/15367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}