{"id":49772,"date":"2026-08-14T13:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T12:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/?p=49772"},"modified":"2026-08-14T20:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:23:21","slug":"propagation-news-16-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/blog\/news\/gb2rs\/propagation-news\/2026\/08\/14\/propagation-news-16-august-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Propagation News \u2013 16 August 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on 13 August, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2026 solar eclipse is done and dusted, so we can get back to normal HF propagation predictions.<\/p>\n

The Solar Flux Index dropped below 100 this week, which is more symbolic than anything. But it shows where we are heading as Solar Cycle 25 drops away.\u00a0The SFI was 99 on the 13th of August with five sunspot groups visible on the solar surface. Activity has been settled with only 12 minor C-Class solar flares over the past seven days.<\/p>\n

The Kp index has remained low over the past few days, with just one excursion to 5.33 on the 8th of August thanks to an incoming solar wind stream from a coronal mass ejection. Otherwise, it has been mainly in the ones and twos which bodes well for HF.<\/p>\n

Sporadic-E effects are still showing up on HF, while we haven\u2019t yet seen the first signs of an autumnal change in conditions.<\/p>\n

A plot from the Dourbes Digisonde shows that the Maximum Usable Frequency, or MUF, over a 3,000km path only got as high as 16.8MHz at noon on the 12th of August.<\/p>\n

There were excursions up to 21.5MHz later in the day but this suggests that 15 and 17m are opening now and again. So keep an eye on the bands. It may sound quiet but they may open up at any time.<\/p>\n

DX to be worked this week includes A50QO from Bhutan, 3B9\/SQ9UM in Rodrigues Island, J68TT from St Lucia, C6AUB in Bahamas from the 19th\u00a0of August, OJ0JR and OJ0YL from Market Reef and RI1FJL from Franz Josef Land.<\/p>\n

Next week NOAA predicts that the SFI may remain around the 100-115 mark.<\/p>\n

We may have unsettled geomagnetic conditions around the 17th to 19th of August, with a predicted maximum Kp of five. More settled conditions are forecast for the 20th of August onwards with a maximum Kp of two.<\/p>\n

So it looks like later next week and next weekend will be best for HF DX.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

VHF and up propagation news <\/strong><\/p>\n

Compiled by G3YLA and G4BAO<\/em><\/p>\n

The long spell of settled weather for most southern parts of the country may get a shake up during next week as the high pressure to the east of the country weakens to allow low pressure to move in, bringing some much-needed rain.<\/p>\n

Northwestern parts of the UK have had cloudier spells with patchy rain recently and there will be more to come next week.<\/p>\n

The result is that any Tropo effects will be tailing off after this weekend and then it will be the turn of rain scatter as more unsettled weather arrives.<\/p>\n

Meteor scatter is probably going to ease back slightly after the peak of the Perseids meteor shower last week, although there will still be a random component to keep things going so stick to the hours around dawn for best results.<\/p>\n

The solar conditions have shown the occasional increase in the Kp index but not enough to get too excited about aurora, although it’s still worth keeping an eye out for values going above a KP of six.<\/p>\n

We are still in the Sporadic-E season and the recent input of Perseids meteor debris has provided some new fuel for Es so it\u2019s by no means all over.<\/p>\n

The DXcluster maps give a very good idea of the current directions that might prove rewarding.<\/p>\n

The main North Atlantic jet stream will run across the UK into Scandinavia so paths to the east and northeast could do well, together with the usual paths to the south.<\/p>\n

In general, it\u2019s still the time of year to check in the morning and again late afternoon for signs of Es activity and if the bands seem quiet then call CQ.<\/p>\n

For EME operators, we have passed maximum Moon declination and minimum path losses for the month but there’s still a few more days of usable Moon time next week if you have a low horizon. Minimum declination and apogee are still over a week away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on 13 August, 2026 The 2026 solar eclipse is done and dusted, so we can get back to normal HF propagation predictions. The Solar Flux Index dropped below 100 this week, which is more symbolic than anything. But it shows where we are heading as Solar Cycle 25 drops […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-propagation-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49772"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49811,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49772\/revisions\/49811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}