Here is a summary of all of the seasons of FM Sporadic E-skip, from every location I have ever received it from. The first season of skip I ever experienced was the summer of 2007 in Green River, Wyoming. I have seen skip every year since, progressively getting better at the hobby of FM DXing. With life changes, however, I have seen skip from numerous locations over the past decade and a half.
Rating past seasons well after the fact was a difficult task. I am mostly basing the following information on memory, and the amount of logs in a given summer, to justify these ratings. Needless to say, 2021's epic skip will be hard to repeat, and I don't think we'll see anything like it in a long while. I have broken the seasons down to "years" although skip primarily happens from May through August. Some locations overlap due to moving in the middle of skip season, so some locations will have the same season.
Seasons are rated as follows:
Excellent - Dozens of logs over the periods April through September. On a scale, this would be A+ to A-.
Good - a decent amount of logs but nothing spectacular. On a scale, this would be B+ to B-.
Mediocre - A few openings, but generally a lousy year, or one or two very strong openings. On a scale, this would be C+ to C-.
Poor - Few to no openings or a poor showing of skip after one or two large openings. On a scale, this would be D+ through F.
N/A - Not enough data from this season to properly rate it
These ratings are my personal observations, mostly from memory. They do not take into account any other DXers.
| YEAR | RATING | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | N/A | I discovered skip by accident by listening to my pirate radio station across town. Suddenly skip overwhelmed the dial, and I was blown away by it.* I mislabeled it as "Aurora-DX" and was chastised by experienced DXers via email. Because of this, I didn't check FM much, unless again, my pirate radio station was toppled. My first station via skip was WAKW Cincinnati, Ohio, 101.9 from a distance of 1321 miles. |
| 2008 | Poor | I only saw a couple of openings this year, if that, but was starting to understand skip better. I rediscovered it while driving home from Utah and listening to an interesting program. The station identified itself as WQUB 90.3 Quincy, IL. I believe I saw more openings in 2007 as I still didn't know what was causing Sporadic E at this point and didn't know when to check the dial. In 2008, the hate mail was coming in regarding my logs, and I again, put off FM dxing for most of the year. |
| 2009 | Mediocre | 2009 I had two locations going simultaneously, Green River, and Utah. I was often back and forth between the two locations, and saw many more openings in 2009 than 2008 or 2007. The big one came on 7-9-09 from Texas, where I mopped the floor with logs. I caught over 30 in one day. Part of this was because Green River had so few skip logs, that most everything was new. I do recall catching the last of US analog television this year, including KPRC-2 Houston on rabbit ears from my backyard. |
| 2010 | Good | I moved back to Green River in late Spring of 2010, and was able to see a significant chunk of the season there. With the FM-6 outdoors on the roof of my parents house, I also saw out of season skip that year. 2010 had a few strong openings but it appeared they were spaced out quite a bit between them, meaning days elapsed with no skip. |
| 2011 | Poor | 2011 was the last year I lived in Green River and I saw the start of the season there in May. I moved to Sheridan and started a new job there, so the antenna went with. I had to rate the season poor for Green River as I didn't see the majority of it there. See Sheridan's 2011 log for more. This would be the final season for skip in Green River. |
| YEAR | RATING | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Good | My first season of skip in Salt Lake City, Utah saw me living in a house in South Salt Lake, near 700 E 3300 South. This is the year I purchased the Sony XDR-F1HD from Jim T. of WTFDA fame. I remember it costing $100. In 2009, Sony was still making the XDR-F1HD. I had learned (thanks to the hate mail) what skip was by this point and was ready to see it for myself. Aside from troposcatter logs, skip came roaring in, and I remember many openings lasting long hours. This was the year that skip went past midnight, and I was often so exhausted I couldn't do it any more. I was getting the same stations to the same area so I went to bed. I often remember days just taking a nap and waking up to skip rolling in. |
| 2010 | Good | Mid-season in 2010, I moved from Salt Lake City to Green River, however I did see the first month of openings. 2010 was the year of Texas openings, and as with 2009, they lasted hours and I was exhausted after each opening. June had a few as well. 2010 also had some out of season skip to Texas. Even though Salt Lake has a crowded dial, in 2010, it was not nearly as bad as it is now. More translators have signed on and IBLOK is king there. Most of my skip logs in 2010 from Utah were in early June (the first two weeks). |
| YEAR | RATING | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Good | In April I applied for and got a job in Sheridan, Wyoming. I moved to the city in May of that year, and used my FM-6 indoors for most of the skip season. My 2001 Subaru Outback also took up skip duties. I purchased a small analog TV for the bedroom and was able to see Canadian and Mexican TV via skip using rabbit ears or a simple speaker wire dipole. Because it was my first year in Sheridan, the openings brought dozens of new logs, and as with 2009-2010, the openings were quite long and strong. I was working as a news director for the local radio station cluster, and even saw skip override one of ours. Most of the skip in Sheridan this year happened in June and July, and a few logs were captured in August. |
| 2012 | Mediocre | 2012, I was incredibly busy with work, often outside a lot during the summer. I still saw a few openings in June and July, but 2012 was not on the scale 2011 was. July 24, 2012 was still a massive day though, with Texas all over the dial. A blessing about Sheridan was the uncluttered dial (then), which has become worse due to Sheridan Media's monopoly on HD-translators. I'm glad I don't live there any more. 2012 saw the demise of the Subaru Outback and the purchase of a 2010 Subaru Impreza with RDS. |
| 2013 | Poor | 2013 was a downer year, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was a lack of skip. There was at least three openings in May, particularly a big one to Orgeon which I recall was able to log a station on my Grundig G8 indoors. June was slow as was July. I believe the season tanked after a certain point and never recovered. |
| 2014 | Mediocre | 2014 was a little better, judging by my count of dates. There was a significant opening on June 17 to Arizona, however the dates indicate there weren't that many openings this year. By the end of the season, I was living in a trailer and had the FM-6 outdoors, again. It came in handy for meteorscatter, but was out there a tad too late to enjoy Es. |
| 2015 | Poor | The last season in Sheridan before the move to Minnesota. I had the FM-6 outdoors and saw the start of the 2015 season. I would move to Minnesota in early June, so most of the season was missed. |
| YEAR | RATING | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Mediocre | In June of 2015, we moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota, and tropo became very apparent. A majority of my logs from 2015 were via tropo. Still, skip happened and the season was "just okay". I was kind of limited by an antenna not designed for FM, and being unfamiliar with the dial. 2015 did see over 200 logs however, mostly tropo. |
| 2016 | Mediocre | The last season in St. Cloud (officially) although due to geocaches nearby, some dxing of skip continued whenever I was close enough to both the twin cities and St. Cloud. 2016 saw skip go late into August, which is rare, to me anyway. There were a few openings in the year, spaced out widely, so this year was between poor and mediocre. I would've rated it a D+ or a C-. In August of 2016, we moved to Blaine, Minnesota. |
| YEAR | RATING | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Poor | Because we moved to Blaine in August of 2016, we didn't get to see any season there until this year. 2017 was a hell of a year for tropo, since every log was pretty much new, but for skip it was a fairy average season, with most openings in May and June. July had a very poor showing for skip this year. The antenna was outside separate from the TV antenna. Tropo was strong but skip was few and far between. |
| 2018 | Mediocre | 2018's skip season started in late May, with a couple openings sprinkled throughout, mostly in June and July. A poor to mediocre season at best. We moved to Coon Rapids, Minnesota this year. In Coon Rapids, I had my 4-element Stellar Labs antenna on a keyboard stand on my patio. It now sits on a mast higher off the ground. |
| 2019 | Poor | 2019 was one of the poorest years for skip in the twin cities. I can count a handful of openings this year. I remember being very depressed by the state of 2019's skip. We don't talk about 2019, no no. |
| 2020 | Poor | 2020, the year of the pandemic, was another skip-poor year however there were a few lengthy openings, including a couple in July to North Carolina. As with most years, Texas gained a bunch of new logs, particularly with an opening on June 3rd. Skip started in May, but was done by late June. 2020 saw the first use of the Jensen HD Radio, which improved loggings due to its lightning fast RDS. |
| 2021 | Excellent | The mother of all skip seasons. 2021 will be hard to beat, and probably won't be. I had vastly improved my technique and purchased a new Sony XDR-S3HD. This allowed the ailing XDR-F1HD to take a break while the new radio and the Jensen could suffice. I also dabbled more in the use of the SDR this year, and had help from many friends in the twin cities and beyond. 2021 was one for the record books and I look back on it fondly, as the best year of skip I've ever seen. |
| 2022 | Good | 2022's skip season started slowly. The first opening happened in the second week of May, and was to Mississippi. It consisted of one relog. The second opening happened on the 18th of May and brought a slew of relogs (and only two new logs) to MS, AL, TX, and LA. It lasted about 2 hours in the evening, but was hampered by the fact that I went out to eat. There were a couple openings in August that were very poor, netting one or no logs. Tropo on the other hand has been extremely good the month of August. There was a New Year's Eve-day opening around 10 am that netted two new MS logs. This is the first time the RSP2 has been used for skip, and succeded in getting both stations. |
| 2023 | Below Average | The 2023 skip season started in late April for some of the United States on 4-30-23, with openings to the Caribbean and other points south. This is domestically. Europe was on fire as always throughout most of May. The east coast saw skip on 5-1-23. Here, there was skip on 5-9-23 for 10 minutes. It never made it beyond 88.1 and was an Irish preacher. Paths at the time were to MS/AL/GA. This was the first skip of '23 heard on the RSP2 Pro and the Sony. -On 5-10-23, Randy in NV had skip to Kansas. Kansas was getting California stations. |
| 2024 | Very poor | OUT OF SEASON SKIP- January saw a large opening to the southwest. Some new ones came out of this. Out of season skip is super rare. May overall - Terrible. The worst May I've seen since 2009. Skip was waking up and happening (sometimes a couple days in a row) for some, especially out on the west coast, but the rest of the country largely got the shaft, except the east coasters (who usually get the best skip anyway). The first really catch of the season was a relog on the auto-logger, KUHF 88.7 Houston on 5-29-24 at 7:28 pm. This was the first un-aided skip catch for the auto-logger. ---Some midnight skip occurred on 8-5-24 to Louisiana, the first time I've ever seen skip go beyond midnight. The logs are updated to the point where skip season is over now. |
Radios used for skip:
GREEN RIVER:
Numerous car radios, and eventually the Sony XDR-F1HD
SALT LAKE CITY:
A Subaru Outback, and Sony XDR-F1HD. Plus, a Grundig G8.
SHERIDAN:
Sony XDR-F1HD, Subaru Outback. Subaru Impreza. Numerous car radios. Grundig G8. Grundig S30.
ST. CLOUD:
Subaru Impreza. Sony XDR-F1HD. Grundig G8.
TWIN CITIES:
Primary: RSP2 Pro by SDRPlay and Sony XDR-S3HD
Secondary: Sangean HDR-14, Sony XDR-F1HD, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Rouge, Sony XDR-S3HD, Jensen HD Radio, RTLSDR, other car radios
* - When I first started DXing FM, I thought skip was related to solar flares and called it "aurora dx". I received a few emails (nasty-grams) from seasoned DXers telling me how wrong I was, and how I was making a mockery of the hobby of FM DXing. It wasn't until 2008 after hearing from a few experts, including members of the WTFDA, that I found my footing and figured out what skip was. My first skip was received in a company vehicle for the city, a 1990s Chevrolet pick up truck.
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