GB2RS Propagation News
Propagation News – 22 April 2018
The Sun remained spotless this week, other than the hint of a new sunspot coming around its limb as this report was being written. The solar flux index reflected this, sitting around the high 60s, although it did reach 71 on Thursday morning. Geomagnetic conditions were quiet at the beginning of the week, but a […]
Propagation News – 15 April 2018
The predicted unsettled geomagnetic conditions arrived on Tuesday and continued with the K-index hitting five on Wednesday. This was due an elongated coronal hole on the Sun, with the escaping plasma causing the solar wind to pick up in both speed and density. The wind peaked at more than 550 kilometres per second and widespread […]
Propagation News – 8 April 2018
Last week saw a continued lack of sunspots as we journey towards solar minimum sometime in 2019–2020. The solar flux index hovered around 68-69, which is only about two to three points above what we can expect when it hits its lowest point. Unfortunately, we are likely to be repeating this sentence quite a lot […]
Propagation News – 1 April 2018
As we move into April 2018 it is time to think about updating the latest smoothed sunspot number if you are using a VOACAP-based propagation prediction program. There are a number of different methods used to smooth or average sunspot numbers, but VOACAP recommends the adjusted SSN from the Solar Influences Data Centre in Belgium. […]
Propagation News – 25 March 2018
Last week was once again dominated by unsettled geomagnetic conditions, which didn’t help HF propagation. The K-index rose to five on Monday, the 19th, after a solar wind stream from a coronal hole, flowing faster than 550 kilometres per second, triggered a moderate G2 geomagnetic storm at higher latitudes. This can occur due to process […]
Propagation News – 18 March 2018
The Commonwealth Contest, held last weekend, proved an ideal opportunity for UK stations to work some choice DX without the massive pile-ups you might get in other contests. Despite a large, elongated coronal hole on the Sun triggering a geomagnetic storm on the night of the ninth, there was still HF DX to be had, […]
