A watched pot never boils. The same can be said with DXing, because a radio you can see will not receive Sporadic E.
Murphy’s Law is generally understood to be “whatever may happen, will happen.” Murphy’s Law can happen at any given time, such as a printer breaking just before a term paper is due, or someone getting sick right before leaving for vacation. I’ve written about Murphy’s Law and its effect on the DXing hobby. It seems to be most prevalent during the Sporadic E season, which typically spans from May to August, with peaks in June and July. Whenever I am near a radio, there is rarely skip. The moment I am away from a radio and cannot DX, FM Es soars to the top of the band, without fail. This is especially true so far with the 2019 FM Es season, where I have only received a shocking 45 seconds of skip since May. Compare that to 2014 when I received a cumulative 1471 minutes, or 24.35 hours of FM Es during the entire season.
On July 18, reports of FM Es to the top of the band in the eastern United States, including my area, were plentiful during the 6:00 PM hour, per reports on the TV/FM Skip Log. I was leaving work at that time and couldn’t be near a radio until about an hour later. Halfway into my commute home, the nearby DXers who were able to benefit from the FM Es opening reported on the propagation logger that the skip was gone. As expected, my radio had deadband conditions upon me turning it on at about 7:10 PM. I missed the FM Es opening.
There was some hope, because I left my computer on at home and I knew it was recording off two of my radios, one set to 92.1 and the other on 93.5–two open frequencies in my region. Knowing my unattended recordings were always two “chances” of getting in on a missed FM Es opening was always the ‘silver lining,’ so to speak, of when skip would happen while I was away.
I came home at about 7:55 PM to find my computer stuck at the login screen. I logged in and didn’t see my recording program running. It apparently rebooted with Windows Updates overnight, and I didn’t notice it before I left for work in the morning. In other words, I missed the live opening, and my computer missed it too, meaning I have nothing to show for what was likely a spectacular opening had I been able to DX it. Murphy strikes again!