What grid square is the IR56 operating area?

IR56 is the live DXRadar reference square for the IR56 operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of IR56 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 IR56 right now?

IR56 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 IR56 Band Conditions

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator IR56. Coordinating at 86.50°, -9.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

IR56 conditions are FAIR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 118.

Regional Radar

SFI

118

K-Index

0.67 Kp

Center Coords

86.5, -9.0

Local Phase

Night

Grayline window

Sunrise 05:36 UTC

Sunset 19:23 UTC from IR56

From the IR56 operating area, work the 05:36 UTC and 19:23 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses IR56.

Best band now

10m

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

Closest operating hub

the IR56 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: 05:36 UTC / 19:23 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: the IR56 operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for IR56, 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 IR56 — the IR56 operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from IR56 to each DX region at SFI 118 / Kp 0.67, 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	2,536 mi	160°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
North America	3,526 mi	272°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	3,935 mi	32°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South Asia	4,689 mi	92°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
South America	7,095 mi	228°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Southern Africa	7,816 mi	146°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Oceania	8,516 mi	22°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for IR56

A planning heuristic for the local day at IR56, built from sunrise 05:36 UTC, sunset 19:23 UTC, SFI 118, and Kp 0.67. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 05:36 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 05:36 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 19:23 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 19:23 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching IR56 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in IR56, IR57, IR55, IR66, IR46. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate IR56 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 IR56: 10m POOR, 15m POOR, 20m FAIR. Current solar conditions (SFI 118, K 0.67) favor 10m, 15m, 20m for this contest weekend.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids