{"id":51008,"date":"2026-10-09T12:11:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/?p=51008"},"modified":"2026-10-09T12:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:11:46","slug":"propagation-news-11-october-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/blog\/news\/gb2rs\/propagation-news\/2026\/10\/09\/propagation-news-11-october-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Propagation News \u2013 11 October 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Wednesday, 7 October 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we head further into October, the maximum usable frequencies available are slowly starting to climb.<\/p>\n

We are seeing 21MHz doing quite well, with 24MHz often coming into play. This should improve as the month goes on.<\/p>\n

This last week was characterised by relatively quiet geomagnetic conditions at times, but with a lowish Solar Flux Index.<\/p>\n

The Kp index hit four and five on the fourth and fifth but has otherwise been quiet, often in the ones and twos.<\/p>\n

HF conditions have been adequate rather than outstanding. 80 metres has proved useful during the RSGB\u2019s Autumn Series of contests, often with good loud signals from around the UK and further afield from Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

There have been some good highlights further up the bands, including hearing the 4S7B NCDXF beacon on 14.100MHz well after dark on Monday, 5 October and the 4U1UN beacon on 21.150MHz during the late afternoon.<\/p>\n

If you wish to work the eastern seaboard of the USA on 10m, look between 1300 and 1700UTC, with perhaps FT8 or CW being the most likely modes at this time.<\/p>\n

There is plenty of DX to be worked next week, including 6O2M in Somalia, H49A on the Solomon Islands, C5R in The Gambia and FW1P, Wallis Island.<\/p>\n

From next weekend, also look for 3DAOGY in Eswatini, S21HRG in Bangladesh and S9R on Sao Tome.<\/p>\n

The solar flux index climbed from 92 to 113 on Wednesday, 7\u00a0October, which is a help. The question is, where does it go from here?<\/p>\n

Next week, the SWPC forecasts the SFI will be in the range of 90 to 105. Geomagnetic conditions are forecast to be good, with a maximum Kp index of two. As always, this is subject to no CMEs or coronal holes, so keep an eye on solarham.com<\/a>\u00a0 for daily updates.<\/p>\n

This weekend may see unsettled geomagnetic conditions thanks to two large coronal holes.<\/p>\n

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

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

We have moved into the season of autumn changeability with alternating unsettled weather. Rain scatter is possible on the GHz bands as is the traditional Tropo that comes from areas of high pressure and temperature inversions.<\/p>\n

The bulk of the period up to the end of next week is firmly in the unsettled domain with some potentially active lows passing close to the UK with perhaps some very strong winds in northern areas. So rain scatter is likely to be an option at times.<\/p>\n

There is a signal in the weather models that we could see a big high developing at the end of next week, with Tropo returning to many areas.<\/p>\n

The meteor scatter prospects are slightly lifted by the Draconids, which peaked on Thursday, 8 October, and then the slow climb to the Orionids later in the month on Wednesday, 21 October, which are the debris from Comet Halley and usually the better of the two showers.<\/p>\n

We have recently been having the occasional peak in the Kp index to around 4 or 5, which is just enough to give us a reason to look out for aurora. Although not really where we need it for a good radio aurora, this is definitely a hint to check the Kp index.<\/p>\n

The surprise out-of-season Sporadic-E on Monday, 5 October, when the FoEs reached just over 10MHz, was a reminder that guidelines about the span of the season are just that and other externally forced events can and do happen.<\/p>\n

It is not easy to give exact reasons for that event but a sudden increase in meteor input can play a regional role if other triggers like jet streams are also present.<\/p>\n

EME now, and Moon declination is negative and falling to minimum on Friday, 16 October, so Moon windows are shortening and peak Moon elevation is falling. Path losses are rising as we approach apogee, also on 16 October.<\/p>\n

The Sun and Moon were close over the weekend of Saturday, 10 October, so expect high sky noise, then moderate, becoming high again as the week progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Wednesday, 7 October 2026. As we head further into October, the maximum usable frequencies available are slowly starting to climb. We are seeing 21MHz doing quite well, with 24MHz often coming into play. This should improve as the month goes on. This last week was characterised by relatively […]<\/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-51008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-propagation-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51008","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=51008"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51010,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51008\/revisions\/51010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsgb.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}