rjr@mgweed.UUCP (Bob Roehrig) (02/12/85)
qst de k9eui hr propagation forecast bulletin nr 6 from arrl headquarters newington ct february 10, 1985 to all radio amateurs bt thus far in the month of february the solar flux has been 2 to 6 points higher than it was one solar rotation ago. the trend to higher solar flux and sunspot numbers began in the middle of january. the author of these bulletins expects the trend to continue through about february 14, keeping the muf slightly higher than it was in early january. the earths magnetic field was active for several days prior to bulletin time. conditions were becoming more favorable in this respect, making for more stable propagation on all dx frequencies except 28 mhz, where still little more than marginal north south dx can be expected. the propagation charts in qst will continue to be on the optimistic side, as they are based on much higher solar flux and sunspot numbers than we are likely to see for some time. american sunspot numbers for january 31 to february 6 were between 25 and 9 with a mean of 18.1 ar
wheatley@inuxi.UUCP (Steven Wheatley) (02/11/86)
qst de k9eui hr propagation forecast bulletin nr 6 from arrl headquarters newington ct february 10, 1986 to all radio amateurs bt after about 4 weeks of very low activity, the sun developed a rash of major flares and new sunspots during the past week. from 69 on january 27, the solar flux was up to 103 by february 5. suddenly the amateur bands sounded like 1983 again. 14 mhz, which had been going dead soon after local sunset, became almost a 24 hour dx band again. 21 and 24 mhz did almost as well, and 28 mhz, long almost totally quiet, was running wild again. during saturday night there was an aurora of such intensity that even 432 mhz dx was workable on ssb, as well as cw. 2 meter operators as far south as sarasota, florida used the aurora to build up their grid square totals. k1tol in maine was heard on 50 mhz in sweden by sm6pu, and the british 50 mhz beacon gb3six was heard by k1jrw in massachusetts. the 50 mhz band was open to south america hours at a time. solar flux is on the way down now, but it may not drop too far. the area of the sun that brought januarys highest flux reading will be facing us again this week. it should keep things interesting on 14 and 21 mhz, if not 24 and 28 mhz, after about wednesday. our lowest solar flux this month is expected about february 17 through 24. by about the 26th we should know if a recurrence of the early february flux peak is likely. american sunspot numbers for january 30 through february 5 were between 9 and 58 with a mean of 35.1. this activity follows a 14 day stretch of no visible spots ar