[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 28, 2013 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA Conditions were good for Field Day weekend last week. Only unsettled geomagnetic conditions (even quiet at times) affected us, no big flares or geomagnetic storms, and sunspot numbers also cooperated by peaking at 135 and 137 on Friday and Saturday. Geomagnetic instability was caused by a brisk solar wind, which was over by June 24. At K7RA I used the ARRL Field Day Locator map at http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator to contact a few club groups earlier in the week to see if they could use another CW operator. I've found in years past that with so many newer licensees who were not required to learn Morse code, that CW ops can be in demand at some sites. Not only are CW operators wanted at many Field Day locations, but the newer licensees are fascinated to see Morse code in action. I really don't think that some of us old-timers who worry about some imagined demise of CW have much to worry about. At the last minute I changed my mind and decided to drag some gear accumulated over the past decade but never put on the air, and operate Class 1C, mobile single operator. Everything was last minute, including the antenna installation and power connections, with the radio sitting between the dashboard and the windshield. The antenna was a very heavy kilowatt-rated screwdriver type antenna, about 20 pounds excluding any mounting hardware or a whip, although I swore it weighed twice as much. The plan was to mount it on a very heavy duty magnetic mount on the roof, perhaps with guying (this is not recommended by the manufacturer), but during assembly I discovered this would not work, as the mounting was not compatible with the antenna. So instead, during a fit of hacker improvisation, I leaned the heavy screwdriver assembly out the right-rear passenger window, (resting on the seat), and rolled up the window as far as I could to hold it in place. I cut the coax with PL-259 off the magmount, stripped back the other end, and attached the center wire to the base of the antenna. The next surprise was that although I had a 7 foot whip, I lacked the adaptor that would screw into the top of the antenna assembly. So what to do? Just stick it in the hole, let it roll around, and pray. I now had an antenna (of sorts) leaning out the right rear of my old car, about 35 degrees above horizontal, at best. To hook the DC cable from the radio to the car battery, I needed to go through the firewall below the dashboard. Despite finding diagrams and advice specific to my 13-year-old car model online, I could not get the cable through. So I grabbed one of those portable starter batteries (fully charged), put it on the front passenger seat, and duct-taped the massive car battery connection clips (which are like jumper cables) to the DC cable from the radio, and another 12 VDC pair to the antenna tuning motor. In addition, to keep the battery charged, I tied in a very flimsy looking 12 VDC lighter plug in parallel with the whole mess, and plugged it into the dashboard lighter socket. This connector with wire was still in the bubble pack in my junk box after 20 years or more. To finish it all off, I ran a couple of long counterpoise wires from the base of the antenna, out the rear doors and along the ground, attaching them to the coax shield broken out at the base of the antenna. I ran a heavy wire from the ground lug on the radio to a metal screw beneath the dashboard that seemed good for ground, at least at DC. The whole thing worked, at least on 80 and 20 meters. 15 meters was marginal, and 40 meters I could not tune at all. Starting late Saturday evening, operating both SSB and CW, I lasted until about 1730 UTC Sunday morning. Most of the operation was from a local Seattle cemetery, on a nearby hilltop overlooking Lake Washington, east of the University of Washington. Very quiet, with power lines far away at the perimeter. Back to solar activity, from the previous week, average daily sunspot numbers were up nearly 13 points to 109.7, and average daily solar flux rose nearly 7 points to 122. Geomagnetic activity was greater than the previous week, with average daily planetary A index rising from 4.3 to 12, and average mid-latitude A index rising from 4.9 to 11.9. Ideally we would like to see the solar flux and sunspot numbers as high as possible, and the A index low, at least for 40 through 10 meters. On 160 meters we would like to see sunspot numbers low as well. I hear lots of complaints about this weird, weak solar cycle, but the 160 meter operators have absolutely no problem with the low activity. Yesterday on Thursday, June 27 the solar flux dipped below 100 to 99.5, which is below the average for the previous seven days (122). Nothing significant about 100, it is just one of those nice
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP27 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 29, 2012 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA Sunspot activity continued to drop until early this week. Average daily sunspot numbers were 26.3, down over 58 points from last week's numbers. Average daily solar flux declined to 92.8, down over 33 points from last week's average. The weekly sunspot number average has declined since the May 31 through June 6 period, when it was 130.4, followed by 116.1 the next week, 84.6 the next and 26.3 this week. In next week's bulletin we will have the latest 3-month moving average of daily sunspot numbers, for April-May-June, and it looks like it will be higher than the previous 3-month average, March-April-May. Also, yesterday was day number 180 for 2012, and sunspot numbers are running higher this year. The average sunspot number over those 180 days is 82.4. Previous years 2003-2011 had yearly sunspot number averages of 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8, 4.7, 5.1, 25.5 and 29.9, so 82.4 is quite a jump. In last week's bulletin ARLP025, we reported the average daily sunspot number as 87, but it was really 84.6. This is because we reported what may have been a preliminary sunspot number of 46 for June 20, but the sunspot number for that date was 29, recorded at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/DSD.txt. Geomagnetic conditions over the past week were quiet. Average planetary A index was 5.7, down from 12.6 last week, 9 the week before, and 13.4 before that. The quiet A index for this week was exactly as it was on the week of May 24-30, 5.7. The latest prediction from USAF/NOAA is from June 28, and it differs very little from the June 27 forecast used in this week's ARRL Letter. It shows geomagnetic activity peaking on June 30 through July 3, probably from a coronal hole spewing solar wind. There is also a thirty-percent chance of M-class solar flares today. Predicted planetary A index for June 29-30 is 10 and 18, followed by 15 on July 1-3, 8 on July 4, 5 on July 5-7, 8 on July 8-9, and 5 on July 10-25, and then on July 26-31, 10, 18, 15, 15, 15 and 8. This is an echo of the activity this week, based on the 27.5 day rotation of our Sun relative to Earth. The predicted solar flux is 115 on June 29-30, 120 and 125 on July 1-2, 130 on July 3-5, 135 and 140 on July 6-7, 135 on July 8-9, 130 on July 10-11, 125 on July 12-13, then 120, 115, 110 and 105 on July 14-17. Solar flux may dip below 100 around July 19 and rise above 100 after July 28. But that is a long way out, and difficult to predict. OK1MGW of the Czech Propagation Interest Group predicts quiet to unsettled geomagnetic conditions on June 29, quiet to active June 30, active July 1-3, quiet to unsettled July 4-7, quiet to active July 8-9, and mostly quiet on July 10-12. Scott Woelm, WX0V of Fridley, Minnesota commented on the recent lack of sunspots, and may have discovered a correlation of some sort. He wrote, I have found the reason for the recent decline in sunspots! My Dad, David Woelm, W0ELM, just got a new radio. Good thinking! He also wrote, For those interested, I have some images of the recent Annular Eclipse in May, and the Venus Transit in June, on my web site: http://bluelightpix.com/images/2012-images/june-1-5-moon-and-venus http://bluelightpix.com/images/2012-images/may-2012-eclipse The second link has a great shot of the Annular Eclipse that was taken in Texas by Bob Adams, KC0JJ, of Crystal, Minnesota. Conditions were pretty good for 2012 Field Day last weekend, meaning there was some solar activity, and geomagnetic conditions were nice and quiet. Some past Field Days didn't have it so good. At http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kp/index.html you can download planetary K and A indices all the way back to 1932, and with a perpetual calendar you can find the fourth full weekend in June for any year. 1988 ARRL Field Day on June 25-26 looks particularly bad, and so does June 23-24, 1984. Either may have been the year I was out with the Western Washington DX Club, and a sudden ionospheric disturbance hit late Saturday morning, making all receivers appear dead. You can see by downloading the data for 1988 that the K index hit 4 and 5 on Saturday morning, then conditions recovered into the evening, only to have a repeat on Sunday morning, a double-whammy. Bill Mader, K8TE, president of the Albuquerque DX Association sent a report on the W5UR Field Day operation at Torrance County Park in Edgewood, New Mexico: Conditions were generally very good for FD excluding 6 and 10 meters. Our 10 meter CW station made just one contact and 6 meters made just 48 contacts with the majority during an opening to California Saturday evening. Propagation for both was disappointing compared with previous years. 15 and 20 made up the bulk of the SSB and three CW stations QSOs and were
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA July 1, 2011 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA The predicted Field Day geomagnetic storm never appeared, although conditions were unsettled leading up to last weekend. Planetary A index was 7 and 7 on Saturday and Sunday, and mid-latitude A index numbers were 5 and 6. Reports so far indicate an enjoyable and productive Field Day 2011. Average daily sunspot numbers for the week were down 13 points compared to the previous week, and average daily solar flux was off by over 7 points. Predicted solar flux for the near term is quite a bit lower than recent numbers. The forecast shows solar flux at 87 for July 1-5, then 90 on July 6-8, 88 on July 9, 92 and 96 on July 10-11, and 100 on July 12-15, then back to 88 on July 16. Expected planetary A index is 8, 10, 12 and 8 July 1-4, 5 on July 5-7, 7 on July 8-9, and 5 again on July 10-18. Geophysical Institute Prague says watch for unsettled conditions July 1, unsettled to active July 2, unsettled July 3, quiet to unsettled July 4-5, and quiet July 6-7. Good news from WM7D and W7GTF who heard on a WWV broadcast that the Space Weather Prediction Center decided not to drop the hourly geo-physical report, and due to all the feedback they may actually expand it. See the official announcement at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwv/. Now that June has passed, let's look at the 3-month moving average of sunspot numbers. Centered on June 2010 through May 2011 the moving average of daily sunspot numbers were 20.4, 23.2, 28.9, 33, 35.6, 31, 30.1, 35.3, 55.7, 72.3, 74.4 and 65.9. We have to look quite far back to find moving averages of daily sunspot numbers as high as the last few months. Back in 2004, the 3-month moving average of daily sunspot numbers centered on June through December were 80.8, 78.1, 69.3, 66, 66.3, 61 and 52.2. Mel Frost, KD7DCR of Whitehall, Montana (DN-35) reports that on 6 meters at 0301z on June 29 he worked NZ5E and AB5F, both in eastern Arkansas. AB5F faded from S-6 into the mud about 35 minutes later, NZ5E started at S-9 +10 and faded to S-8, until they finally signed off at 0420z. He couldn't find any evidence on DK Sherlock of others enjoying this path. Jon Jones, N0JK of Wichita, Kansas (EM17jr) on June 25 wrote: I worked PJ6D at 1704z today. They came up on a QSB peak, worked AC0A then me. Sent the usual '599' but more like a 579. Solid clear signal and clean confirmed QSO. Earlier heard them at 1600z but very weak like on scatter. They are running an amp, so I was hearing them better than they me. Had to call several times to get a response. PJ6D faded down shortly after I worked them. Had just come in the apartment after helping the XYL load some furniture in our car. Could have easily missed PJ6D. Could not go out portable today due to T-Storms. Also on June 25, Bill Hohnstein, K0HA of Seward, Nebraska (EN10lx) wrote: I worked PJ76 at 1502z and PJ6D at 1506z. Both were strong then. The PJ's and others in that area were stronger with 120 degree Yagi phasing. That's how my antenna was set when I worked them. By 1520z signals from that area were better with 0 degree Yagi phasing. I think that I had my earliest run of JA's today: 29 between 2137 and 2216z, with two more around 2240z. I think that JA6LCJ in PM52 was my furthest (10,457 km). Bill also added: I did a lot of antenna checks while working the JA's. All that I checked were stronger with 120 degree phasing between two of my Yagis! Most were pretty much unworkably weak with 0 degree phasing AND with just my 6M7 being fed. My adding the phasing option is definitely a success! Bill linked to a recording he made of JN1NDY at http://www.k0ha.com/6m/JN1NDY2011.mp3. He also added And, if you want to hear how JA4DND's signal sounded, go to: http://www.k0ha.com/6m/JA4DND.mp3 . That's how the pileup sounded most of the time. If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k...@arrl.net. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation. Find more good information and tutorials on propagation at http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/k9la/index.html. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins. Sunspot numbers for June 23 through 29 were 47, 62, 47, 26, 30, 37, and 45, with a mean of 42. 10.7 cm flux was 96.3, 96.2, 93.6, 90.1, 89.2, 86.9, and 87.3,
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA July 2, 2010 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA Most stations reported not-so-great conditions for ARRL Field Day last weekend, but there were sporadic-e openings on 6 and 10 meters. Geomagnetic conditions were a bit rough, with the Planetary A index in double digits for both days, June 26-27. Conditions at mid-latitude were not too bad, but in Alaska the College A index was 20 and 22. With atmospheric noise from seasonal thunderstorms it was a bit rough at times, although with Field Day just about everyone has fun. Read comments from participants at http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox and select 2010 ARRL Field Day from the drop-down menu. June is over, so we have some new averages for sunspot numbers, and the numbers declined slightly. Average daily sunspot number over the month of June was 18, down from 20 in May. The three-month average centered on May was 16.2, down from 18.5 the previous month (centered on April, with data from March through May), 22.3 the month before, and 25.7 the month prior to that (centered on February). For the past week, average daily sunspot numbers were 11.7, down from 16.1 the prior week and 26.9 before that. The latest prediction (from Thursday afternoon) via USAF and NOAA has solar flux at 72 for July 2-3, and 74 on July 4-10. The same forecast has planetary A index at 10 for July 2, 8 on July 3-4, and 5 on July 5-10. Geophysical Institute Prague in the Czech Republic sees quiet to unsettled conditions July 2-3, and quiet conditions July 4-8. With sporadic-e season in full swing, we've heard a number of six meter reports. Jim O'Brien, W4AMP of Cedartown, Georgia (EM74) reports that on June 19 six meters was open most of the day. With a 2-element beam and 100 watts at midnight local time (0400z) he worked VE7BEE in DN09 and KW7Y in CN88. He noted that midnight is an odd time for multiple-hop sporadic-e skip. Martin McCormick, WB5AGZ in Stillwater, Oklahoma sent in this note about sporadic-e on Field Day: On Saturday June 26, I was tuning between 25 and 30 MHZ at about 12:30 CDT and heard a narrow-band FM signal on 25.99 MHZ playing music. It was a broadcast station's Queuing system. These used to be very common around 26.xx MHZ but most stations have gone to much higher frequencies to get away from Sporadic E, F2 and illegal CB-type activity so when one hears one of these signals these days, it is rare. I listened for a while and heard 2 ID's which turned out to be for KSCS whose actual broadcast frequency is 96.3 in Fort Worth, TX. This is very interesting because Stillwater, Oklahoma is only a bit over 200 to 250 miles from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The signal was full-quieting with fades for several minutes and then it vanished very quickly. This should have been good for Field Day participants on 12 and 10 meters as E Skip doesn't usually get that short. The bands were actually pretty boring with 6 meters dead from here and not many strong signals between 25 and 30 MHZ. You'd be surprised what the letters KSCS can sound like even when heard fairly clearly. I made a recording of the audio and heard them refer to Texas but it took several runs at Radio-locator.com to find anything that made sense. Fortunately, radio locator lists stations by Call letters, frequency and program format. KSCS is in Texas, plays country music and is on 96.3 MHZ. Some radio stations may still use these frequencies for actual remote broadcasts from a truck or public building back to the studio so you never know what you will find. Martin mentioned http://www.radio-locator.com/ which is very handy for identifying broadcast stations with a great deal of detailed information. Jeff Hartley, N8II of Shepherdstown, West Virginia sent this report: The good news is the almost ever present Es to fill in gaps left by low solar flux. Several times on 15 meters I have heard EA and Italy past midnight local in Europe. Saturday June 12 was fabulous with a good European opening on 10 meters from around 1320-1430Z; a couple of signals were over S9 from MW0, and DL and about 25 stations were worked mostly in SW and S Europe. Saturday June 19 at 1630Z, I was operating in the WV QSO Party. I was able to work the 'far side' of WV during several periods on 20 meters as close as about 200 miles away and had almost continuous openings to 8's, 9's, and close in 4's as well as long openings to New England. There was also a very extensive double hop 10 meter opening to the Rockies, southwest, and west coast from 2100Z thru past 0200Z which also extended to 6 meters. I worked about 720 stations on 20 meter phone and 170 on 10 phone. I missed AK and VT for WAS, several called in from HI on 20 including KH6G mid day mid path. Sunday the June 20 around 1300Z, I heard N0KE and K0GU in CO and
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 26, 2009 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA Thanks to Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA for writing last week's Propagation Forecast bulletin. Two new sunspots appeared last week, numbered 1022 and 1023, and both were Cycle 24 spots. 1022 lasted through June 23 and 1023 until June 24. On June 24 geomagnetic indices were unsettled. This weekend is ARRL Field Day, and conditions should be stable. Planetary A index is predicted to be around five, which is quiet. Chip Margelli, K7JA wrote about some surprising openings last week. He writes, Sunspots or no, there are DX opportunities even with a solar flux of 67. Both Friday and Saturday nights (U.S. time June 19-20), the 21 MHz and 28 MHz bands were open to Japan from my location in southern California, and along much of the West Coast, around 0500-0800 UTC (that's 10 PM to at least 1 AM!). Both nights, the 15-meter CW band was crawling with loud JA signals from stations working the All Asian DX Contest, and there were many loud signals on 10 meters, as well. I fear many did not think to check ten at this hour, but it very much was open. He continues, And Saturday night I worked 54 JA stations in a nice run on 50 MHz, so perhaps those noctilucent clouds were being kind to me. Steve Brandt, N7VS of Portland, Oregon had a similar observation. On 10 meters CW last Friday night (at 0336z Saturday) Steve worked JK1YMM in the All Asia CW Contest with S7 reports in both directions. Steve also observed sporadic-E openings this week out to about 1,000 miles, and said other stations have reported working Japan on 10 meters this week. In last week's bulletin, Carl mentioned the upcoming DXpedition to Glorioso in July. Now he has written a set of predictions for propagation to Glorioso from various areas, and you can see it at http://mysite.verizon.net/k9la/id11.html. Just click on the Glorioso in July 2009 link. I received some interesting mail from Red Haines, WO0W of La Crescent, Minnesota. I did a search for past emails from him, and came across an unread mail from December, 2007. Just to review and clarify, an ionosonde is a tool for measuring the critical frequency (f0F2) for the area just above. It sweeps an RF signal, beaming straight up, and looks for reflections. Some quotes from Red occupy the next few paragraphs. Though we use the sunspot number and the solar flux index to assess propagation expectations, there is only an indirect connection between these indices and propagation. Neither sunspots nor the radiation measured by the solar flux index directly increase or decrease the levels of ionization in the ionosphere. All three are determined, somewhat independently, by physical processes on or in the Sun. Sunspots and the solar flux are caused by solar conditions that are often associated to a limited degree with high energy radiation that reaches Earth and ionizes molecules in the atmosphere. Only the energetic radiation (UV, X-ray, and Gamma rays) from the Sun or other sources ionize those molecules. The solar flux radiation is not energetic enough. The sunspots are only a visual phenomena associated with solar events, including radiation. It often happens that no solar radiation associated with a sunspot reaches Earth. In past years, we didn't have any better predictors of propagation than the sunspot number and the solar flux index. They remain useful, but we must recognize their limitations. In fact, propagation correlates very poorly with them. Smoothed sunspot numbers are useful to study the solar activity cycle. Smoothed sunspot number doesn't predict the next day's propagation or even the next cycle's timing or magnitude. In fact, the smoothed SSN cannot be calculated until 6 moths have passed. The daily SSN is just about meaningless to propagation. Today, we have better indicators of propagation potential. Hams may view near real time measures of X-ray radiation from the GOES satellites. See http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/today.html. The various propagation beacons are very useful to assess current propagation. A source of near real time ionospheric conditions, including the various critical frequencies, may be accessed at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day/. This index links to the worldwide system of ionosondes to report measured values on short time intervals, typically near 15 minutes. The shortcoming is the relatively small number of ionosondes, which requires interpolation to estimate the MUF for a propagation path, as well as educated guesses regarding details of the path. The Australian IPS Radio and Space Services offer several maps that attempt to depict interpolated propagation conditions, based on ionosonde measurements. For an example and links to additional products, see http://www.ips.gov.au/HF_Systems/4/3.;
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 20, 2008 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA We are lucky to see at least one sunspot this week, although it is only one. Sunspot 999 is currently in its most geo-effective position, near the center of the sun, as we see it. This is another old cycle 23 spot. The sunspot number for the last few days has been 11, which is the minimum non-zero sunspot number. A value of ten is assigned because there is just one cluster of sunspots, although in this case it is a cluster of just one. A value of one is added to that for the single spot. A week ago the sunspot number was 13, which means one cluster, three spots, although the judgment of the number of spots inside sunspot 999 is somewhat subjective. Let's compare a couple of solar photos from last summer which illustrate the subtle difference between a sunspot number of 12, and sunspot number of 14. On July 3, 2007, the daily sunspot number was 12. Here is a photo of sunspot region 961: http://www.bcsatellite.net/bao/NOAA10961-3jul-1.jpg Compare that to August 25, 2007, when the sunspot number was 14, in this image of sunspot region 969: http://www.bcsatellite.net/bao/NOAA10969-25-CaK.jpg The August photo looks like 969 might have three dark areas, but a daily sunspot number of 14 means there were four spots in one region. The July photo appears to show two dark areas, which is consistent with a daily sunspot number of 12. Next week is ARRL Field Day. On June 28-29 there are no predicted geomagnetic upsets. The predicted planetary A index for June 27-29 is 8, 5 and 5. Maybe we'll get lucky and see a sunspot or two. There is a very good chance that conditions could be much as they were last year, with fairly low geomagnetic activity (although the predicted activity for this year is lower) and no sunspots. A Portuguese group, Associacao de Radioamadores da Vila de Moscavide sent a link (http://www.arvm.org/index_fd2008.html) to their recent Field Day photos. In Europe Field Day is held earlier than the ARRL Field Day. Note that on the page at the bottom there are links to past Field Day images (see page bottom) and links at the top of the page go to photos taken by a number of different hams. Mike Williams, W4DL of Pompano Beach, Florida (EL96) mentioned that last weekend's ARRL June VHF QSO Party produced great results for him. He said the spectrum scope on his rig made 6 meters look like 20 meters. He wrote, ''It was incredible; I worked numerous stations from here in EL96 on CW and also SSB, and AM. I checked 2 meters and snagged K8GP there and 10 minutes later on 6. The 6 meter band was open early in the morning on Saturday and was still going strong at Z that evening. Love the QRM on 6 meter CW!'' Ken Sturgill of Marion, Virginia sent in a tip about 6 meter activity on June 13. Go to http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/index.php and set variable 1 to 50 MHz, variable 3 to Reported from 13 June to 14 June 2008 and Show Only QSO above 5000 km, variable 4 to 1000, then hit Submit Query. This shows a slew of six meter contacts over long distances, mostly via multi-hop e-layer propagation. Of course you can vary the parameters however you want, and if you lower the Show Only variable you will see more e-skip that is not multihop. Looks like a dramatic six meter opening that day. Jon Jones, N0JK sent in some six meter spots from last weekend, and also some info on six meter sporadic-e propagation. Go to http://www.uksmg.org/e107_plugins/wrap/wrap.php?5 and under Six News Categories, select 6M Propagation Theories. Select the fourth listing, ''a primer on sporadic-E''. See http://www.uksmg.org/content/rattling.htm for an older article on the subject. Steve Lybarger, NU7T of Sparks, Nevada sent in this link to an interesting article about dipole patterns in solar coronagraphs at solar activity minimum: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/old/05oct2007/ If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email. Sunspot numbers for June 12 through 18 were 13, 13, 0, 0, 11, 11, and 11 with a mean of 8.4. 10.7 cm flux was 67.1, 66.5, 67.1, 66.5, 65.3, 65.9, and 65.4 with a mean of 66.3. Estimated planetary A indices were
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 30, 2006 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA It was a fun Field Day weekend all over last week, judging from the Soapbox comments and photos on the ARRL web site at http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/. There are many great stories on the site, but I enjoyed reading the N4SL report on the W7MRG operation over 500 miles down the road to Montana from home in Washington State. Go to page 10 (click on 10 at the bottom of the page on the above link) to find it. Even with zero sunspots, the homebrew wire antenna arrays and Montana hilltop sounded fabulous. If you check the N4SL listing on www.qrz.com, you'll see his wire antennas at home sound quite similar to his Field Day setup. Apparently there was some 6, 10 and 15 meter fun, although your author didn't hear it here. We put in a short casual mobile operation on 20 and 40 meters, both CW and SSB, and were impressed with how well the 7 foot monoband whip on the car worked on 40 meters. Changing bands meant unscrewing an antenna from the trunk mount and substituting another. No sunspots last weekend, but a big new spot (897) rotated into view this week. Followed by spot 898, it looks like a moderately rising solar flux and sunspot number will be with us through July 6. A solar wind stream caused elevated geomagnetic numbers on June 28 and 29, and this may happen again around July 3-5. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions over June 30 to July 3, quiet to unsettled on July 4, unsettled to active on July 5, and unsettled on July 6. Last week's bulletin mentioned Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA and his article ''When Will the Bands Improve?'' in the current July 2006 QST. Carl would like to correct his definition of the length of a sunspot cycle. The sentence in question should read ''The average length of a sunspot cycle, from solar minimum with a minimum number of sunspots (low electron density) to solar maximum with a maximum number of sunspots (high electron density) and then back down to the next solar minimum, is approximately eleven years.'' Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM wrote: ''I echo the comments last week about 6m being a bundle of fun. I only have 5-10W QRP to a small vertical on the side of the house but this has allowed me to work all across Europe as far as Ukraine on SSB with 59 reports being the norm. Last summer I managed a few north Africans but not yet this summer''. ''Not within my reach has been the amazing DX worked from Europe by the 'big guns' running high power to large beams: Central America, North America and, most amazing of all, a number of openings to JA and even one to KL7. JAs seem to have been worked on several mornings of late around our late breakfast time. This is over the pole and a very long way for simply sporadic-E. I wonder what mode this really is?'' Roger has a very nice web page at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lapthorn/index.htm. Don't miss the interesting links he has under Homebrew rigs for the remarkable little QRP radios he constructed. If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/ . Sunspot numbers for June 22 through 28 were 0, 0, 0, 13, 14, 33 and 38 with a mean of 14. 10.7 cm flux was 72.1, 71.8, 73.6, 74, 76.4, 78.5, and 83.5, with a mean of 75.7. Estimated planetary A indices were 6, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6 and 18 with a mean of 6.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 6, 1, 2, 3, 1, 7 and 12, with a mean of 4.6. /EX -- Archives http://www.mail-archive.com/dx-news@njdxa.org THE DXR is sponsored by the North Jersey DX Association. Please visit our website: http://www.njdxa.org/index.php scroll to bottom for subscribe/unsubscribe options --
[DX-NEWS] ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA
SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP26 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 26 ARLP026 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA June 25, 2004 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP026 ARLP026 Propagation de K7RA This is Field Day weekend! Conditions don't look bad, although there is the chance of geomagnetic conditions becoming unsettled. This week the sunspot numbers have improved, while geomagnetic conditions were quiet, which is a great combination. Average daily sunspot numbers rose over 50 points from last week to 116. Average daily solar flux was up almost 18 points to 113.7. Sunspot numbers were the highest on June 20 and 21, Sunday and Monday, and both the planetary and mid-latitude A indices were very low, in the lower single digits. Look at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/DGD.txt and you can see the K index at 1 and 0 at all locations for several days. Sunspot groups 634 and 635 provided most of the activity, and today they are moving out of view. As a result, predicted sunspot and solar flux numbers are a bit lower, with the solar flux forecast for Friday through Monday, June 25-28 at 100, 95, 95 and 90. The predicted planetary A index for the same four days is currently at 12, 12, 15 and 15. This is due to weak high-speed solar wind from a recurrent coronal hole coming into view. K7RA will operate some this weekend, under Class C, which is for stations in vehicles capable of operating while in motion, and normally operated in this manner. I'll probably be on 15 and 20 meters, both phone and CW, and 10 meters if it shows any life, and the operating style will be casual. One of the fun things about the Field Day operating activity is that the paperwork is very easy. When submitting a contest entry, you only turn in a list of stations worked, sorted alphanumerically and divided by band and mode, along with a summary sheet. Unlike the ARRL Sweepstakes or DX contests, you will never lose points for incorrectly copying the exchange from the other station or the time of the contact because you don't even report it. Only the call sign is recorded in the appropriate band/mode list. There are no multipliers for numbers of states or sections worked or for DX. I'll probably just sort my call sign lists on a laptop with a simple text editor or word processor while operating, then e-mail in the results. See http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/ for rules. For this year's Field Day, 20 meters will be your best band, and possibly 15 as well. 10 meters may be good for some sporadic E skip. 40 and 80 meters should be good after dark. Run some numbers using a sunspot count of 100 or 105 and a K index of 2 or 3 on W6ELprop to get some ideas of where openings might point to at different times. You can download this free at http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop/. Sunspot numbers for June 17 through 23 were 106, 118, 90, 142, 139, 113 and 104 with a mean of 116. 10.7 cm flux was 111.3, 107.8, 112.7, 119.1, 115.8, 116.7 and 112.5, with a mean of 113.7. Estimated planetary A indices were 7, 8, 5, 3, 4, 4 and 5, with a mean of 5.1. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 7, 10, 4, 3, 3, 1 and 2, with a mean of 4.3. /EX -- To post a message the subject must begin with [:dx-news:] (all lower case) and sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] --
