What grid square is Africa operating area?

LI38 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 LI38 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 LI38 right now?

LI38 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 LI38 Band Conditions — Africa

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator LI38. Coordinating at -1.50°, 47.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

LI38 conditions are POOR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 105.

Regional Radar

SFI

105

K-Index

2 Kp

Center Coords

-1.5, 47.0

Local Phase

Daylight

Grayline window

Sunrise 02:42 UTC

Sunset 14:49 UTC from LI38

From Africa operating area, work the 02:42 UTC and 14:49 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses LI38.

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: tropical
Local phase: Daylight
Aurora exposure: low at this latitude
Grayline: 02:42 UTC / 14:49 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: Africa operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for LI38, 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 LI38 — Africa operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from LI38 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
Southern Africa	2,194 mi	218°	40m, 80m, 20m	Open now
South Asia	2,647 mi	50°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Europe	4,177 mi	334°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	6,335 mi	54°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Oceania	6,942 mi	121°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South America	7,191 mi	254°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
North America	9,035 mi	324°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for LI38

A planning heuristic for the local day at LI38, built from sunrise 02:42 UTC, sunset 14:49 UTC, SFI 105, and Kp 2. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 02:42 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 02:42 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 14:49 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 14:49 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching LI38 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in LI38, LI39, LI37, LI48, LI28. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate LI38 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 LI38: 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