What grid square is Africa operating area?

KG86 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 KG86 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 KG86 right now?

KG86 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 KG86 Band Conditions — Africa

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator KG86. Coordinating at -23.50°, 37.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

KG86 conditions are POOR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 105.

Regional Radar

SFI

105

K-Index

2 Kp

Center Coords

-23.5, 37.0

Local Phase

Daylight

Grayline window

Sunrise 03:23 UTC

Sunset 15:29 UTC from KG86

From Africa operating area, work the 03:23 UTC and 15:29 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses KG86.

Best band now

10m

10m is the headline band right now, with 20m as the dependable fallback if conditions soften.

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: mid-latitude
Local phase: Daylight
Aurora exposure: low at this latitude
Grayline: 03:23 UTC / 15:29 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: Africa operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for KG86, then compare the global live ranking oncurrent ham band conditionsbefore changing bands.

10m

EXCELLENT

15m

EXCELLENT

20m

GOOD

40m

POOR

80m

POOR

● Best DX Windows from KG86 — Africa operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from KG86 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
South Asia	4,181 mi	44°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Europe	5,341 mi	343°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South America	6,116 mi	254°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Oceania	6,659 mi	127°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	7,744 mi	59°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
North America	9,605 mi	303°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for KG86

A planning heuristic for the local day at KG86, built from sunrise 03:23 UTC, sunset 15:29 UTC, SFI 105, and Kp 2. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 03:23 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 03:23 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 15:29 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 15:29 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching KG86 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in KG86, KG87, KG85, KG96, KG76. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate KG86 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 KG86: 10m EXCELLENT, 15m EXCELLENT, 20m GOOD. Current solar conditions (SFI 105, K 2) favor 10m, 15m, 20m for this contest weekend.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids