GB2RS Propagation News
Propagation News – 28 October 2018
We were blessed with quieter geomagnetic conditions this week. And despite the solar flux index only being around 70, a more settled ionosphere meant there was DX to be had. The 6G’s VK9XG DXpedition to Christmas Island off the north-west of Australia has been worked on many bands from the UK, including 160 and 80m. […]
Propagation News – 21 October 2018
The sun remained pretty well spotless in the latter half of this week, with a solar flux index of 70 at the time this report was being prepared. But after an email from a GB2RS listener it is probably a good idea to recap how sunspot numbers are calculated. We count each sunspot as one, […]
Propagation News – 14 October 2018
Last week was not very good for HF propagation, with the effects of an enormous solar coronal hole, and its associated high-speed solar wind, sending the K-index soaring. There were, however, some upsides. The initial positive phase of a geomagnetic storm saw maximum useable frequencies rise to more than 21MHz during the afternoon and early […]
Propagation News – 7 October 2018
There are signs that ionospheric conditions are improving as we head into autumn. This isn’t unexpected; as the ionosphere cools there is a chemical shift towards more monatomic species that are easier to ionise. The 4U1UN New York, VE8AT Nunavut and ZS6DN Pretoria beacons on 14.100MHz were all audible at the same time on Wednesday, […]
Propagation News – 30 September 2018
At the risk of sounding very samey, the solar flux index remained at around 67-68 with zero sunspots this week, and just a few points off what we can expect at absolute solar minimum. As predicted, geomagnetic conditions were relatively poor at the beginning of the week, but did improve slightly later on, although the […]
Propagation News – 23 September 2018
First, the sunspot reported a few weeks ago as possibly being from the new sunspot cycle 25 was in fact from cycle 24. Although it had a reverse magnetic polarity signature than other cycle 24 spots, scientists now say that its low solar latitude means it was not from the new cycle. Scientists are also […]
