VOACAP Propagation Planner Revisited!

VOACAP Propagation Planner is a comprehensive planning tool for HF contesters and DXers. So far, the only problem has been that you really must be a dedicated enthusiast to run all the software required to maximize your efforts either in contests or DXpeditions. Now, things have changed: A new, more user-friendly version — 2.0 beta — is finally available!

Preparing and planning for any worldwide contest or DX expedition (or hunting a DX) require a thorough analysis of propagation predictions. The propagation predictions help you, so to speak, get a good grasp of the playing field, i.e. where to play and when. The predictions tell you when and on what bands the best openings are in the given direction at a suitable signal strength, so that the QSO rates can be maintained at their best; at what times it’s good to use those valuable long-path openings, and when to focus on working those hard-to-reach areas while the band opens elsewhere at the same time.

The new online version now does all heavy-lifting and number-crunching on the VOACAP server, and visualizes the results in two ways: by CQ or ITU Zones (short-path or long-path) and by band-specific zone charts (short-path or long-path, as you wish). Be warned that there are quite a number of charts to analyze but I am confident all your efforts will greatly be paid off. The tables can easily be copied to word-processing software if you wish to make them fit better on paper. I strongly recommend using the Google Chrome browser to browse the pages as I found that some of the mainstream browsers on some platforms have hard time printing (and even copying) table cells with a background color.

It all boils down to making optimum use of the openings — being in the right place at the right time. So, the better predictions you have, the better basis for operating planning. Nevertheless, we must remember that predictions are just that — predictions, not exact science. And, due to the nature of VOACAP, you must visualize low-band openings with the help of grayline map software such as DX Atlas by Alex VE3NEA or GeoClock by Joe Ahlgren. VOACAP predictions are not so accurate there.