What grid square is the CA81 operating area?

CA81 is the live DXRadar reference square for the CA81 operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of CA81 for planning propagation.

How do I find my grid square?

Use a Maidenhead grid lookup from your GPS coordinates or street address, then compare that grid with the nearby squares linked on this page. A 4-character grid is enough for most HF planning.

What bands are open in CA81 right now?

CA81 is currently rated FAIR. The best bands right now are 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m, with 10m as the main band to watch first.

Grid CA81 Band Conditions

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator CA81. Coordinating at -88.50°, -123.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

CA81 conditions are FAIR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 121.

Regional Radar

SFI

121

K-Index

2.33 Kp

Center Coords

-88.5, -123.0

Local Phase

Night

Grayline window

Sunrise 09:43 UTC

Sunset 06:27 UTC from CA81

From the CA81 operating area, work the 09:43 UTC and 06:27 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses CA81.

Best band now

10m

Night operation should keep 20m on watch and move to 40m as the path darkens.

Closest operating hub

the CA81 operating area

This square sits in a mixed-region footprint and is best used as a planning center for portable, field-day, and home-station band decisions.

Latitude zone: high-latitude
Local phase: Darkness
Aurora exposure: watch during geomagnetic storms
Grayline: 09:43 UTC / 06:27 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: the CA81 operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for CA81, then compare the global live ranking oncurrent ham band conditionsbefore changing bands.

10m

POOR

15m

POOR

20m

FAIR

40m

GOOD

80m

GOOD

● Best DX Windows from CA81 — the CA81 operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from CA81 to each DX region at SFI 121 / Kp 2.33, and a current verdict. "Open now" means a suitable band is scoring well on that path; "Try ~HH:MM" points at the next far-end grayline. Band picks and status are a planning heuristic, not a measurement.

Target	Distance	Beam	Bands to try	Status
Oceania	4,141 mi	272°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Southern Africa	4,511 mi	149°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
South America	5,139 mi	65°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
South Asia	7,835 mi	201°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	8,721 mi	262°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
North America	8,819 mi	25°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Europe	9,743 mi	132°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for CA81

A planning heuristic for the local day at CA81, built from sunrise 09:43 UTC, sunset 06:27 UTC, SFI 121, and Kp 2.33. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 09:43 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

Grayline enhancement — low bands reach long distances as the terminator passes.

Morning

after 09:43 UTC

20m · 15m · 10m

High bands rising with the sun; check 10m for DX.

Midday

local noon

10m · 15m · 20m

Peak high-band window — 10m and 15m open widest.

Dusk grayline

around 06:27 UTC

20m · 40m

Second grayline peak — 20m holds, then hands off to 40m.

Night

after 06:27 UTC

40m · 80m

Low bands own the darkness — 40m for DX, 80m regional.

Recent local activity

Spots touching CA81 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in CA81, CA82, CA80, CA91, CA71. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate CA81 footprint right now. That usually means you should widen the search to the nearest regional hubs below or fall back to 20m/40m for the next operating window.

Top DX targets

Where this grid is reaching right now

No outbound targets were strong enough to rank from the current cache. Check back after the next PSKReporter refresh or switch to the regional grids below.

Contest preview

Next major contest outlook

No contest event is currently loaded. For planning from CA81, start with 10m POOR, 15m POOR, 20m FAIR and keep 20m available as the safest all-around fallback.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids