pbn@hou5a.UUCP (01/11/84)
qst de w1aw hr propagation forecast bulletin nr 2 from arrl headquarters newington ct january 9, 1984 to all radio amateurs bt thus far in january, the solar flux has been running lower than for the corresponding days in december. activity of the earths magnetic field has also been lower, especially just preceding issuance of this bulletin. these conditions have made for improved propagation on the lower amateur frequencies, but they have brought reduced coverage and fewer hours of dx on 28 mhz, and to some extent on 21 mhz. active areas presently visible on the sun are in the eastern quadrant, which would indicate continuance of stable propagation through about january 10. more geomagnetic activity and degraded propagation are likely about january 12 and 15, but no serious disturbances are expected before about the 26th to 29th. because the solar flux will almost certainly be lower than 124, the figure used for the prediction charts in december qst, the muf on most communications circuits will tend to be lower than these charts indicate. american sunspot numbers for the period december 29 through january 4 were between 0 and 18 with a mean of 10.3 ar