What grid square is Australia operating area?

PE87 is the live DXRadar reference square for Australia operating area. The exact portable or home QTH may vary within the square, but this page tracks the center of PE87 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 PE87 right now?

PE87 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 PE87 Band Conditions — Australia

Localized HF conditions for Maidenhead locator PE87. Coordinating at -42.50°, 137.00°. Updated with real-time telemetry from NOAA and DX cluster reports.

PE87 conditions are POOR. Best bands: 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m. SFI: 105.

Regional Radar

SFI

105

K-Index

2 Kp

Center Coords

-42.5, 137.0

Local Phase

Daylight

Grayline window

Sunrise 20:43 UTC

Sunset 08:48 UTC from PE87

From Australia operating area, work the 20:43 UTC and 08:48 UTC grayline windows: probe 20m, 30m, and 40m in the 15 minutes either side while the terminator crosses PE87.

Best band now

10m

10m is the first place to check for long-haul openings from this region, with 15m close behind.

Closest operating hub

Australia operating area

This square sits in Australia 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: 20:43 UTC / 08:48 UTC
Best high band: 10m
Nearest city: Australia operating area

● Local Band Quality Scorings

Use this local score for PE87, 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 PE87 — Australia operating area

Great-circle distance, short-path beam heading, the bands most likely open right now from PE87 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
Oceania	1,124 mi	44°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
East Asia / Japan	5,424 mi	1°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South Asia	5,826 mi	307°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
Southern Africa	5,986 mi	237°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now
South America	8,351 mi	163°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
North America	9,599 mi	76°	40m, 20m, 80m	Open now
Europe	9,908 mi	301°	10m, 15m, 20m	Open now

● Band-by-Time Plan for PE87

A planning heuristic for the local day at PE87, built from sunrise 20:43 UTC, sunset 08:48 UTC, SFI 105, and Kp 2. Not a measurement — a starting point for where to listen as the day turns.

Dawn grayline

around 20:43 UTC

40m · 30m · 20m

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

Morning

after 20:43 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 08:48 UTC

20m · 40m

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

Night

after 08:48 UTC

40m · 80m

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

Recent local activity

Spots touching PE87 and the adjacent squares

These are the newest 10m, 15m, and 20m reports where one side of the path sits in PE87, PE88, PE86, PE97, PE77. This gives the page unique, local context instead of a generic solar snapshot.

No fresh PSKReporter paths are cached for the immediate PE87 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 PE87: 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