rjr@mgweed.UUCP (Bob Roehrig) (08/27/85)
qst de k9eui hr propagation forecast bulletin nr 34a from arrl headquarters newington, ct august 26, 1985 to all radio amateurs bt beginning august 11 the solar flux was at 69 or lower every day through the 21st, and no higher than 71 through the 25th. this is the most pronounced flux low since the beginning of cycle 21 more than 9 years ago. perhaps even more important, the august flux curve is no better than just even with the july curve at any time. from july 7 through 11 the flux was between 95 and 101. one solar rotation later it was 77 or 76 in the corresponding 5 days, and this was during the best days of august. through all of the months to date, the flux has never more than just equaled the figure for the july rotation, and it has been as much as 25 points below it. the propagation effects of the lower flux have been obvious. except for occasional sporadic e skip, there has been practically no dx on 28 mhz, and very little on 24 or 21 mhz. even reception of the usually reliable 10 mhz wwv has been poor or nonexistent in the early morning hours in connecticut. no sunspots have been seen by the writer since august 10 despite good viewing conditions nearly every day. it is now more than a month since anything more than a single small spot has been seen, and that was back in july. the long calm may end in early september, if not before. geomagnetic activity is likely to be higher around august 27 but generally good propagation is expected at the months end and in the first few days of september. american sunspot numbers for august 15 to 21 were between 0 and 5 with a mean of 1.7 ar