What grid square is the NQ26 operating area?

NQ26 is the live DXRadar reference square for the NQ26 operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of NQ26 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 NQ26 right now?

NQ26 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 NQ26 Band Conditions

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator NQ26. Coordinating at 76.50°, 85.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

NQ26 conditions are FAIR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 118.

Regional Radar

SFI

118

K-Index

0.67 Kp

Center Coords

76.5, 85.0

Local Phase

Daylight

Grayline window

Sunrise 23:58 UTC

Sunset 12:29 UTC from NQ26

From the NQ26 operating area, work the 23:58 UTC and 12:29 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses NQ26.

Best band now

10m

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

Closest operating hub

the NQ26 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: Daylight
Aurora exposure: watch during geomagnetic storms
Grayline: 23:58 UTC / 12:29 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: the NQ26 operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for NQ26, 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 NQ26 — the NQ26 operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from NQ26 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	2,653 mi	272°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	3,230 mi	117°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South Asia	3,773 mi	188°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
North America	4,455 mi	3°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Southern Africa	7,500 mi	234°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Oceania	7,851 mi	121°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South America	7,986 mi	320°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for NQ26

A planning heuristic for the local day at NQ26, built from sunrise 23:58 UTC, sunset 12:29 UTC, SFI 118, and Kp 0.67. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 23:58 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 23:58 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 12:29 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 12:29 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching NQ26 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in NQ26, NQ27, NQ25, NQ36, NQ16. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate NQ26 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

No contest event is currently loaded. For planning from NQ26, start with 10m EXCELLENT, 15m EXCELLENT, 20m GOOD and keep 20m available as the safest all-around fallback.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids