What grid square is USA operating area?

EM86 is the live DXRadar reference square for USA operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of EM86 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 EM86 right now?

EM86 is currently rated POOR. The best bands right now are 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m, with 10m as the main band to watch first.

Grid EM86 Band Conditions — USA

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator EM86. Coordinating at 36.50°, -83.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

EM86 conditions are POOR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 105.

Regional Radar

SFI

105

K-Index

1.33 Kp

Center Coords

36.5, -83.0

Local Phase

Night

Grayline window

Sunrise 11:20 UTC

Sunset 23:32 UTC from EM86

From USA operating area, work the 11:20 UTC and 23:32 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses EM86.

Best band now

10m

After sunset, 20m transitions and 40m becomes the reliable DX fallback from this part of North America.

Closest operating hub

USA operating area

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

Latitude zone: mid-latitude
Local phase: Darkness
Aurora exposure: low at this latitude
Grayline: 11:20 UTC / 23:32 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: USA operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for EM86, then compare the global live ranking oncurrent ham band conditionsbefore changing bands.

10m

POOR

15m

POOR

20m

FAIR

40m

EXCELLENT

80m

EXCELLENT

● Best DX Windows from EM86 — USA operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from EM86 to each DX region at SFI 105 / Kp 1.33, 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
South America	3,914 mi	151°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Europe	4,465 mi	45°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	6,779 mi	328°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South Asia	8,209 mi	20°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Southern Africa	8,273 mi	102°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Oceania	9,380 mi	262°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for EM86

A planning heuristic for the local day at EM86, built from sunrise 11:20 UTC, sunset 23:32 UTC, SFI 105, and Kp 1.33. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 11:20 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 11:20 UTC

20m · 15m

Modest SFI — 20m is the daytime workhorse here.

Midday

local noon

15m · 20m

20m and 15m carry the daytime load at this SFI.

Dusk grayline

around 23:32 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 23:32 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching EM86 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in EM86, EM87, EM85, EM96, EM76. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate EM86 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

CQ World Wide DX Contest - SSB starts Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT. Current forecast from EM86: 10m POOR, 15m POOR, 20m FAIR. Current solar conditions (SFI 105, K 1.33) favor 10m, 15m, 20m for this contest weekend.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids