What grid square is Africa operating area?

IL11 is the live DXRadar reference square for Africa operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of IL11 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 IL11 right now?

IL11 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 IL11 Band Conditions — Africa

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator IL11. Coordinating at 21.50°, -17.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

IL11 conditions are POOR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 105.

Regional Radar

SFI

105

K-Index

2 Kp

Center Coords

21.5, -17.0

Local Phase

Night

Grayline window

Sunrise 06:57 UTC

Sunset 19:06 UTC from IL11

From Africa operating area, work the 06:57 UTC and 19:06 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses IL11.

Best band now

10m

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

Closest operating hub

Africa operating area

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

Latitude zone: tropical
Local phase: Darkness
Aurora exposure: low at this latitude
Grayline: 06:57 UTC / 19:06 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: Africa operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for IL11, 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 IL11 — Africa operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from IL11 to each DX region at SFI 105 / Kp 2, 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
Europe	2,456 mi	30°	40m, 80m, 20m	Open now
South America	3,752 mi	231°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Southern Africa	4,366 mi	137°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
North America	4,829 mi	305°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
South Asia	5,972 mi	68°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	8,141 mi	23°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Oceania	11,439 mi	129°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for IL11

A planning heuristic for the local day at IL11, built from sunrise 06:57 UTC, sunset 19:06 UTC, SFI 105, and Kp 2. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 06:57 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 06:57 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 19:06 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 19:06 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching IL11 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in IL11, IL12, IL10, IL21, IL01. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate IL11 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 IL11: 10m POOR, 15m POOR, 20m FAIR. Current solar conditions (SFI 105, K 2) favor 10m, 15m, 20m for this contest weekend.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids