Many thanks to Rand (W7UDT) who writes:

The world is flat! Just ask any Ham!

by Randall Tom, W7UDT

It’s funny, but true. The World of Amatuer Radio is flat!

We often think we know the direction to a DX contact, but we seldom do. Especially at distances beyond 1,000 miles. Therein lies the misconception in our DX radio reality.

We assume this spherical, oblate ellipsoid, we call Earth, as round. In fact, it bulges at the equator, flattening the poles. Ergo, our sense of direction is wonky… Lets fix that. Here’s a link. https://ns6t.net/azimuth/azimuth.html

Here is a copy of my Azimuthal Map from DN13tq:

The center of my universe is Boise, Idaho, specifically DN13tq. Using the NS6T.net website, you too can enter your Maidenhead coordinates and see your radio world in a whole new light. Download your own Azimuthal Map and see the World as flat.

Europe, for me, is not East. If I had a log periodic beam, I’d be talking to Cape Town South Africa at 90 degrees east. Europe (for me) is 30 degrees NNE from my QTH. As a QRP field operator, I should orient whatever gain, in whatever field antenna I may have, accordingly. Just saying… The World of Amatuer Radio is flat!

So get properly oriented, and go out and discovery New Worlds.

72 de W7UDT

10 thoughts on “Randall says, “The World is Flat!””

Fantastic! And these plots can be small enough to stick somewhere in your /p kit.
Well done!
Scott

Rand says:

January 11, 2024 at 11:38 am

I’ve enlarged and printed up my map, it’s in each of my kits… five whiskies and who knows, maybe I’ll make a Cape Town contact.

I follow LY2H Linas in Lithuania… With good propagation, a QRP contact seems probable. I’m going to try to schedule something.

72 Scott!

Reply
K7ULM Dick says:

January 11, 2024 at 12:28 pm

I have always wanted a big azimuth map on the wall to plot my contact. Good stuff.

Reply
1. Rand says:
  
  May 18, 2024 at 9:42 am
  
  POTA Pup? what a great picture!
  
  Reply

Well, propagation stinks quite frankly, few days of 10 meter openings is not cause to celebrate.
Any tool that helps is valuable, but it all comes down to whether conditions favor the contact.

Since I understood the flatness of the planet I have used azimuthal map, hamclock and U3S from QrpLabs and I have achieved very good contacts in QRP 10mts with very good reports. https://youtu.be/8CoWK1eKEQA?si=dryvT1Vz2HfFal4r
César

Thanks for sharing! Great tool!

Randall:

Wow! Thanks for making us aware of this tool. I’ve printed mine out and looking forward to using it.

72,
Teri KO4WFP

One interesting note that is relevant to those with directional antennas is that most, if not all, Grey-line propagation to the antipodes is via long-path. Keep that in mind when trying to work VKs and ZLs from North America as you might be pointing your beam in the wrong direction. The theory as to why these paths are strong, in spite of the distance, is that much of the path is accomplished via chordal-hops, where the signal stays within layer of the ionosphere without bouncing off of the earth for every hop. How cool is that !

Michael VE3WMB