What grid square is the NQ40 operating area?

NQ40 is the live DXRadar reference square for the NQ40 operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of NQ40 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 NQ40 right now?

NQ40 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 NQ40 Band Conditions

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator NQ40. Coordinating at 70.50°, 89.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

NQ40 conditions are FAIR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 118.

Regional Radar

SFI

118

K-Index

0.67 Kp

Center Coords

70.5, 89.0

Local Phase

Night

Grayline window

Sunrise 23:46 UTC

Sunset 12:08 UTC from NQ40

From the NQ40 operating area, work the 23:46 UTC and 12:08 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses NQ40.

Best band now

10m

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

Closest operating hub

the NQ40 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: 23:46 UTC / 12:08 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: the NQ40 operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for NQ40, 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 NQ40 — the NQ40 operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from NQ40 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	2,782 mi	283°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	2,972 mi	116°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South Asia	3,381 mi	194°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
North America	4,863 mi	6°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Southern Africa	7,330 mi	236°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Oceania	7,555 mi	127°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South America	8,357 mi	322°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for NQ40

A planning heuristic for the local day at NQ40, built from sunrise 23:46 UTC, sunset 12:08 UTC, SFI 118, and Kp 0.67. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 23:46 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 23:46 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 12:08 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 12:08 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching NQ40 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in NQ40, NQ41, NP49, NQ50, NQ30. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate NQ40 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 NQ40, start with 10m POOR, 15m POOR, 20m FAIR and keep 20m available as the safest all-around fallback.

Open contest calendar

Nearby grids