We are now "over the top" in the Es season in the Northern Hemisphere.
As FT8 and dedicated people prove, Es is not over, just even more sporadic! Yesterday was a case in point: there were still stations coming in from right across Europe, but fewer than in the peak season. There were also South Americans coming in.
As the sunspot number climbs, I would expect more worldwide DX to come through. I think North Americans will consistently come through this autumn. So far, most have been, I think, due to E layer propagation.
Come October, I would expect USA and Canadian stations to be appearing in droves via F2. In the better years of the last cycle even AM stations around 29MHz could be easily copied. As much (because of my poor voice these days) as I am a fan of FT8, I hope there is still SSB, FM and AM activity. When good, transatlantic stations can be worked indoors on a whip antenna with QRP SSB!!
In my view, 10m is one of our very best HF bands. For the next 4-5 years 10m should be good.
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