HF conditions right now
Band-by-band conditions for operators, computed from the numbers the ionosphere actually runs on: live solar flux, sunspot number, A-index and Kp. Plus the thing no band-conditions banner gives you: advance warning, because the CME that will wreck your weekend is visible days before it arrives.
Computed from the live values above using standard operator heuristics. An honest approximation, not an ionosonde measurement. Season, path, and your antenna matter as much as the Sun does.
1The two waves that take out HF
A big eruption can hit your bands twice. The flare is light. It reaches the daylit ionosphere in 8 minutes, the D-layer soaks up your signal, and the sunlit half of Earth loses the low HF bands for tens of minutes (NOAA's R scale). The CME is matter: a plasma cloud that arrives 1–3 days later, drives the geomagnetic storm (G scale, elevated Kp and A), degrades HF for a day or two with polar paths worst… and hands VHF operators auroral scatter on 6 m and 2 m as a consolation prize.
The solar cycle sets the ceiling on all of this. We're in Cycle 25's declining phase, so the good high-band years are numbered. Meanwhile, every Earth-directed CME on the live tracker shows its estimated arrival time (typically good to ~±12 h, validation published), so "conditions will be rough Thursday" is something you can actually plan around. The free email alert fires when a significant one launches, and again ~30–60 minutes before impact when the L1 monitor confirms it.
2Put band conditions on your club site
A live conditions banner with bands, indices, and any inbound CME, as a plain iframe: no scripts, no keys, free.
<iframe src="https://www.cmetracker.ai/embed-radio?theme=dark" width="320" height="200" style="border:0" title="HF band conditions · CME Tracker" loading="lazy"></iframe>
theme=light for light pages · more widgets (live map, aurora, numbers) at Embed CME Tracker.
3Storm warnings by email
Two-stage and free: a heads-up days ahead when a significant Earth-directed CME launches (with the honest storm range), and a confirmation ~30–60 minutes out when the L1 monitor measures it inbound. (Privacy: we store your address and nothing else.)