Originally Posted By: Mark_R
We're coming off of the peak of the 11 year sunspot cycle. Could that be monkeying with the ionosphere conditions?


Absolutely. HF radio propagation is a pretty complex matter, though. Lots of factors involved - a couple of useful links (hopefully not too technical):

http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/propagation/ionospheric/hf-propagation-basics.php

http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/pr...lar-indices.php