MUF.EXE... an Es muf calculator for PCs.

DISCLAIMER: This program is in the public domain and is installed and
executed AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Give details of a known path that is open via Es (eg from the cluster, off-air,
Band II, etc), and MUF.EXE will calculate the critical frequency (Fcrit), the
Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF), and the Frequency of Optimum Traffic (FOT) in
the E layer. The programme will also give a hint as to where you should beam,
and into which region you might make contacts. The calculations are based on
information accumulated over a number of years, and seem to represent
single-skip Es quite well (however, no guarantee of accurancy is given).

To download you will need UUDECODE and an up-to-date version of PKUNZIP.

USAGE: MUF <FROMLOC> <TOLOC> <FREQMHZ> <HOMELOC>

[fromloc, toloc, homeloc, are Maidenhead (world-wide) locators, specified
 in 4 or 6 character forms (case insensitive). For example, em64, EM64,
 EM64df, em64DF are all valid. The 4 character form assumes the center of the
 square]


Example 1 (I type "muf io91sv jn05 144.3 jo02pb")
-------------------------------------------------

Es from io91sv to jn05 (on 144.30MHz), az = 171/el = 15.2 719Km
   [Fcrit 45.75MHz, MUF 249.29MHz] [mid-point JN08dq]
=> from jo02pb try to IN95oh, az = 192/el = 14.2 766Km
   [FOT 151.20MHz]

(this is based on my shortest ever 2m Es QSO. Note the MUF... Band III TV
 was actually reported during this opening!)


Example 2 (I type "muf jn67 jn46 50.1 jo02pb")
----------------------------------------------

Es from jn67 to jn46 (on 50.10MHz), az = 251/el = 33.2 324Km
   [Fcrit 28.51MHz, MUF 155.37MHz] [mid-point JN57la]
=> from jo02pb try to KN01hw, az = 120/el = 2.6 1842Km
   [FOT 150.98MHz]

(this is from a 6m report... If you see something similar on the
DX-cluster it's time to get blasting on 2m!)


Example 3 (I type "muf jo31 jn61 144.3 jo02pb")
-----------------------------------------------

Es from jo31 to jn61 (on 144.30MHz), az = 155/el = 7.6 1202Km
   [Fcrit 32.41MHz, MUF 176.62MHz] [mid-point JN56al]
=> from jo02pb try to JN90ju, az = 126/el = 2.7 1824Km
   [FOT 171.24MHz]

(In this case you might be better off watching for Band III TV!)


Example 4 (I type "muf jo61 jn61 50.2 jo02pb")
----------------------------------------------

Es from jo61 to jn61 (on 50.20MHz), az = 180/el = 8.6 1112Km
   [Fcrit 11.80MHz, MUF 64.30MHz] [mid-point JN66ll]
=> from jo02pb try to KN20hu, az = 116/el = 0.9 2167Km
   [FOT 64.10MHz]

(In this case the geometry is perfect for you to KN20, but the MUF isn't high
enough, so forget it!).

73, Mark G4PCS