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Weekly DX Bulletin and prop report

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:44:55 -0400

Better late than never...Some of us have to go on vacation every now and then. The featured photo of the week is the WA4FC/B 6 meter beacon antenna, with all of the other antennas nearby in the background. 10 meter version is coming very soon! This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by DS4GGM, LU9ESD, NC1L, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all. KENYA, 5Z. Valery, RW1AU is QRV as 5Z4/RW1AU for the next several months while on work assignment in Nairobi. He is active mostly on SSB, but may be on CW soon. QSL via K5XK. In addition, Antonio, IK8VRH and Enrico, 5Z4ES are QRV as 5Z4/IK8VRH from the Coast Province North Group, IOTA AF-040, until August 17 and the Coast Province South Group, IOTA AF-067, from August 20 to 22. Activity is on 40, 20 and 17 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via operators' instructions. CHILE, CE. Look for 3G1F to be QRV from the lighthouse on the del Alacran Peninsula for the ILLW. Activity will be on 40 to 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via EA5KB. MOROCCO, CN. Mohamed, CN8PA is QRV as CN33M until August 26. QSL via CN2DX. URUGUAY, CV. Station CV1AA is QRV from the Faro Puerto del Buceo West Breakwater in the ILLW. Activity is on 160 to 15 meters using CW and SSB with two stations, and on V/UHF with one station. QSL direct. SWITZERLAND, HB. Members of the Swiss Lighthouse Activity Group will be QRV as HB9LH from Romanshorn Lighthouse, ARLHS SWI-005, during the ILLW. QSL via bureau. PANAMA, HP. Several members of the Panama Canal Amateur Association and Radio Club de Panama will be QRV as H81L from the Miraflores Locks Lighthouse, ARLHS PAN-030, on August 16 and 17. Activity will be on all bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via HP1RCP. REPUBLIC OF KOREA, HL. Members of the Gwangju DX Club are QRV as 6L0NJ/4, from the Huksan Island group, IOTA AS-093, until August 18. Activity is on all HF bands using CW, SSB and various digital modes. QSL via HL4XM. ITALY, I. Special event station IY6GM is QRV until August 17 to commemorate the 104th anniversary of Marconi's experiments from Monte Cappuccini. QSL via I6GFX. SVALBARD, JW. Niels, OZ8KR is QRV as JW/OZ8KR from Longyearbyen, IOTA EU-026, until August 127. Activity is mostly 20 meters SSB. QSL to home call. ARGENTINA, LU. LU4WG and LU7WW will be QRV from the Punta Tehuelche Lighthouse, ARLHS ARG-059, for the ILLW. QSL via operators' instructions. GREECE, SV. Giorgos, SV1HEM is QRV as SV1HEM/8 from Meganisi Island, IOTA EU-052, until August 17. Activity is on 80 to 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL to home call. PALAU, T8. Hidenori, JI2TXU is QRV as T88TX from Koror, IOTA OC-009, until August 20. Activity is on 40 to 6 meters using SSB. QSL to home call. TURKEY, TA. Karl, WA2KBZ is QRV as TA0/WA2KBZ from Buyukada Island until September 1. This is not an IOTA. Activity is on 40, 30, 20 and 17 meters and possibly 15 meters, using mostly CW. QSL to home call. CORSICA, TK. Nicolas, F5TGR is QRV as TK/F5TGR from Porto Vecchio, IOTA EU-014, until August 23. Activity is on 40 to 10 meters using CW and SSB. He may be active from other coastal islands during this time as well. QSL to home call. KALININGRAD, UA2. Alex, UA2FFW has been active using RTTY on 20 meters just after 2100z. INDIA, VU. NIAR HQ station VU2NRO is QRV during the NIAR Silver Jubilee Celebrations on August 16 and 17. Activity is on 40 and 20 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via operators' instructions. In addition, look for AT8LH to be QRV until August 24 for the first-ever operation from Mahabalipuram Lighthouse. Also, stations VU2SMS/LH and VU2ROE/LH may be active until August 24 from Panaji, Goa State. QSL via operators' instructions. ASCENSION ISLAND, ZD8. Bob, VP8LP is QRV as ZD8LP until August 16, and again on September 14. Activity is on 40 to 10 meters. QSL direct. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest, International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend, North American SSB QSO Party, NCCC Sprint, SARTG World Wide RTTY Contest, Russian District Award Contest, Keyman's Club of Japan CW Contest, Feld Hell Sprint, ARCI Silent Key Memorial CW Sprint and New Jersey QSO Party are all on tap for this weekend. The Run for the Bacon QRP CW Contest is scheduled for August 18. Please see August QST, page 74, and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details. SB PROP ARL ARLP034 ARLP034 Propagation de K7RA Thanks to Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA for writing the excellent bulletin last week. If you missed it, be sure to check http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/2008-arlp033.html because it is full of useful information. Our sun is still not producing any sunspots. As mentioned in previous bulletins, the peak of the last cycle was a double peak, so perhaps we are in the midst of an extended bottom. Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM reported six-meter observations. ''Following on from comments in the Aug 8th propagation bulletin, I'd like to mention Aug 6th when, here in the UK on just a small VHF collinear, I heard both D4C and K1TOL on 6m CW. The Cape Verde station was working a string of EU stations and peaked at 539 with me. Lefty, K1TOL (who I worked last year on 6m with just 2.5W!) was 569 and a solid signal for 15 minutes. A little later I was able to work N2MM on 10m SSB with just 10W and a halo antenna. My summary is that 6m (and 10m) truly is a magic band if one can hear such DX on such a simple antenna ...and at sunspot minimum. Last year's experience of working K1TOL confirmed that it is possible to work such DX too with a bit of luck and decent sporadic-E''. The following is from Scott Bidstrup, WA7UZO, and is so interesting I thought I should include it in its entirety. ''I live in Costa Rica (EK70rc), and at this low latitude, propagation is significantly different than in the States. I have been having a lot of fun exploring those differences, and recently downloaded and installed BeaconSee to watch propagation from the NCDXF/IARU beacon network. And I have noticed something you might find to be quite interesting. While monitoring the NOAA space weather page at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SWN/index.html I discovered that when a boundary crossing occurs, there seems to be a mode switch in the propagation I see here in Costa Rica. If the Bz component is strongly positive, on 20m. and 15m., I see fairly strong signals from the 4U1UN beacon in New York, and moderately strong signals from the OA4B beacon in Peru. I can also see a weak signal from W6WX and occasionally KH6WO, and in the early morning from the ZS6 and 5Z4 beacons as well. When a boundary crossing occurs, it's like someone throws a switch - over three or four minutes, 4U1UN fades, the W6 and KH6 beacons disappear, and OA4B booms in. The bands will get somewhat noisy until the Bz becomes settled in the decidedly negative, at which point the noise will subside and the OA4B beacon will become so strong I can even hear it in the 100mw mode. But I can hear practically nothing else on the band, and see the 4U1UN beacon only very weakly. When the bands are in this mode, 10m. is open to South America, but only to stations in an arc across the middle of the continent from Santiago to a range from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo - no other stations need apply. This bimodality seems to be inversely correlated to solar wind speed. the higher the wind speed, the smaller the effect. It seems to be positively correlated with the proton density - the stronger the proton flux, the stronger the signals from South America''. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email. Sunspot numbers for August 7 through 13 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean of 0. 10.7 cm flux was 66.1, 65.5, 65.5, 65.6, 65.7, 65.2, and 65.3 with a mean of 65.6. Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 4, 18, 13, 7, 6 and 5 with a mean of 8.1. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 3, 16, 9, 6, 6 and 3 with a mean of 6.6.

Stupidity

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:24:00 -0400

Can't remember where I got this from, so I can't give credit.

Weekly DX Bulletin

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:14:44 -0400

The featured picture of the week is a view of the N�NDP 440mhz repeater located near Kingsville, MO. He is a regular visitor of the website and // aficionado. Note: edited to include the prop report for the week also. This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by CX3AL, QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all. GUINEA, 3X. John, VE2EQL, will be active as 3XY0D until August 9. Activity will mostly be on 20, 17 and 15 meters, with some activity on 40 meters. He plans to be on the air around 1000 to 1100z and after 2300z. QSL via his home call sign. SENEGAL, 6V. Laurent, F8ATM, will be QRV as 6V7L from August 8 to 22. Activity will be on all HF bands using SSB and RTTY. QSL via his home call sign, direct or by the bureau. TURKEY, TC. The special callsign TC4X will be activated on several occasions, through August 12. Operators include OH2BH, OH2PM, OH8NC, TA1HZ as well as others. The location is in the city of Alanya in southern Turkey. QSL via OH2BH. CAPE VERDE, D4. Luca, IK2NCJ, will be active from the D4C Contest station on Sao Vicente (AF-086, WLOTA LH-1976, WW Loc. HK76MV), from August 6 to 18. This time he will have Girts, YL2KL, with him for the Worked All Europe CW Contest (August 9 and 10) as a Multi-Single entry. Luca is also expected to be in the SARTG World Wide RTTY Contest, August 16 and 17. He will be watching 6 meters while there. The 6 meter beacon runs 40 watts and will be on 50.034 MHz with a vertical antenna. QSL via IZ4DPV. ITALY, I. Look for special event station II5EME on the air until August 15. Activity is to celebrate the 13th International EME Conference which will take place in Florence from August 8 to 10. QSL via IW5EIJ, direct or by the bureau. PALAU, T8. Hidenori, JI2TXU, will activate T88TX from August 15 to 20. Activity will be on 40, 20, 15, 12, 10 and 6 meters SSB. QSL via JI2TXU. HONG KONG, VR2. Special Event. Members of the Hong Kong Amateur Radio DX Association (HARDXA) continued to be active as VR2008O until August 31, to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Operations are from 40 to 10 meters and 6 meters, using primarily SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL direct only to VR2XMT: Charlie Ho, PO Box 900, Fanling Post Office, Hong Kong. There will be no e-QSL or LoTW. CAYMAN ISLANDS, ZF. Randy, K5SL, will be QRV as ZS2SI from Grand Cayman, August 9 to 16. Activity will be mostly SSB and CW on 17 meters on 18150 and 18077 kHz. Also look for him around 0400z on 40 meters CW around 7033 kHz. QSL via his home call sign. SARDINIA, IS0. Gherardo, IM0/IZ1DSH, will appear on 40 through 10 meters mostly in SSB from Tavolara Island (EU-165, IIA OT-071) from August 9 to 17. QSL via bureau (preferred) or direct to his home call. OGASAWARA ISLAND, JD1/OG. JD1BLX (JI5USJ) and JD1BLY (JI5RPT) will be active from Chichijima (AS-031), from August 10 to 16 on CW, SSB and digital modes on 160 through 6 meters and via satellite. QSL via their home calls. SVALBARD, JW. Niels, JW/OZ8KR, will be active mostly on SSB on 20 meters from the capital Longyearbyen (EU-026) from August 12 to 17. Check his preferred frequencies 14220 and 14260 kHz. QSL via home call. ICELAND, TF. Martin, TF/G3ZAY, Dominic,TF/M0BLF, and Chris, TF/M0SCH, are working from Grimsey Island (EU-168) until August 9. QSL via their home calls. CORSICA, TK. Nicolas, TK/F5TGR, will be QRV from Porto Vecchio (EU-014) in CW and SSB on 40 through 10 meters from August 9 to 23. Trips to other islands are possible as well. QSLs via home call, direct or via bureau. URUGUAY, CV. The Radio Club Uruguayo will be active as CV1AA from Faro Puerto del Buceo West Breakwater (ARLHS URU-014, ILLW UY0003) during the upcoming ILLW activity, from August 15 to 17. Look for them on 160 through 15 meters on CW and SSB with at least two stations, as well as on VHF and UHF with one station. QSL for this activity direct only to: Radio Club Uruguayo, P.O.Box 37,11000, Montevideo, URUGUAY, SOUTH AMERICA, with SAE and IRC or 2 green stamps. MALDIVES, 8Q. Andrew, G7COD, will be active from the Island of Embudu in the Kaafu Atoll, (AS-013), using the callsign 8Q7AK from October 12 to 25. Activity will be on 40 through 12 meters using CW and SSB. He plans to be operational every day from approximately 0730-0830z, 0900-1030z, 1300-1500z and 1730-1745z. Suggested frequencies are (+/- QRM): SSB - 7063, 14147, 18133, 21253 and 24953 kHz, and CW - 7003, 10103, 14003, 18073, 21003 and 24893 kHz. WALLIS ISLAND, FW. Operators Hide, JM1LJS and Junichi, JA3RAF, are expected to be QRV from August 9 to 15. Hide will sign FW1W and Junichi will sign FW1Z. Activity will be on 80 through 6 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via their home call signs, direct only. SAMOA, 5W. Hide and Junichi will move on to Upolu Island, (OC-097) with operations from August 16 to 19. Hide will sign 5W0HH and Junichi will sign 5W0MJ. They will be QRV on 40 through 6 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via their home call signs, direct only. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The Worked All Europe Contest and Maryland-DC QSO Party are on tap for this weekend. Please see August QST, page 74 and the ARRL and WA7BNM Contest Web Sites for details. ------------------- As mentioned in last week's Bulletin, Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, is filling in for your regular reporter Tad Cook, K7RA. For the reporting period August 1 through August 7, solar activity was at very low levels and the geomagnetic field was at quiet levels. Solar activity is expected to be very low for the next several days. As for geomagnetic field activity, the Australian Space Forecast Centre issued a geomagnetic disturbance warning on August 6 for quiet to unsettled and then unsettled to active conditions (with possible minor storm periods) on August 8 and August 9, respectively. Other than a new-cycle magnetic dipole on August 3 that didn't turn into a sunspot region, the Sun was again blank for the entire reporting period. Kind of sounds like a recording, doesn't it? A good summary is: Here we sit at solar min Wondering when Cycle 24 will begin It seems like we've been at solar minimum forever. In fact, there have been several news releases hinting that this solar minimum period between Cycle 23 and 24 is unusual. The analysis of recent spotless days compared to historical spotless days (see science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/11jul_solarcycleupdate.htm) led Dr. David Hathaway (NASA solar physicist) to conclude that nothing is unusual about this solar minimum period. Another way to look at solar minimum is to look at the duration when the smoothed sunspot number is below 20. Historically this duration has ranged from a short 17 months to a long 96 months, with an average of 37 months. Cycle 23 descended below 20 in February 2006, and Cycle 24 is predicted to ascend above 20 in early 2009. That's around 36 months, so everything appears to be pretty normal so far and agrees with Dr. Hathaway's conclusion. We'll just have to be patient until Cycle 24 starts ramping up. The good news is that we have seen three sunspot regions tied to Cycle 24 (January 4, April 13, and May 5), so it's coming. What can you do around solar minimum? One activity would be to get on the low bands for the Fall/Winter season - the low bands should be very good. Another activity would be to take advantage of summer sporadic E (and in December, too, but it's not as prevalent). For example, last weekend provided some excellent 6 Meter propagation. And participants (your author included) in the CW running of the North American QSO Party (sponsored by the National Contest Journal) enjoyed 10 Meter and 15 Meter sporadic E openings (which likely happens a lot more than we think - a dead band may not be dead, just unoccupied). And since mid latitude sporadic E is not tied to sunspots, we can have fun throughout an entire solar cycle. Speaking of sporadic E, last week's Bulletin reported N4KZ working EA8/DL6FAW on 6m on both CW and SSB. This brought a reply from Norbert Scherer, DL6FAW. Norbert reports that he's been operating on 2m for many years, but his 6m activity is relatively new. Since 2006 he has been running 100W to a simple 5-element Yagi when in Spain. Norbert continues: ''In the first weeks I only heard North America in the middle of the day. I never expected any opening after midnight local time. But by carefully monitoring the beacons I was surprised to hear, for example, WZ8D/B late in the evening. Sometimes I started to call CQ and there was no reply at all. The following day, when I heard the beacon again and nothing else, there were ten people calling at the same time. Tim, KY5R, told me last week that I was the only signal on the band he could hear. I hope there will be more good propagation to NA in the coming weeks, although the sunspot number is Zero! I checked out some websites listing solar activity, sunspot number, K-index, solar winds, etc. for July 2008. But I couldn't find any correlation between the data provided there and my log.'' DL6FAW's attempt to correlate 6m Es to sunspots came out as expected - as stated earlier, there doesn't appear to be any tie between where we are in a sunspot cycle and the occurrence of mid latitude sporadic E. Finally, in last week's Bulletin Jim Henderson, KF7E, provided some good observations and comments about the day-to-day variability of the ionosphere. A good supporting example of his observations is the F2 region MUF over the Millstone Hill ionosonde (in Massachusetts), assuming it's the mid point of a 3000 km hop. In July, when the solar flux was for all intents and purposes constant, the 3000 km MUF varied from a low of 8.9 MHz to a high of 19.6 MHz. KF7E's comments, along with the Millstone Hill data, are in agreement with ionospheric studies showing that although solar radiation is the instigator of the ionization process, two other factors appear to be more significant in determining what the F2 region ionosphere is doing right now. These two factors are geomagnetic field activity and events in the lower atmosphere coupling up to the ionosphere. What does all that mean? It simply means plugging the daily solar flux into your favorite propagation prediction program really doesn't tell you what the ionosphere is doing today. This day-to-day variability is the reason our prediction programs were designed to be statistical over a month's time frame. We do not have daily predictions, and the developers never intended that they be daily predictions as they were aware of the unpredictability of the day-to-day variation of the ionosphere. Perhaps some day we'll figure all this out, but for now the best way to tell if one of the higher bands is open is to listen to the NCDXF/IARU beacons (www.ncdxf.org/beacons.html). For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email. Sunspot numbers for July 31 through August 6 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean of 0. 10.7 cm flux was 65.5, 66.1, 66.2, 65.5, 66.2, 66.5, and 67 with a mean of 66.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3 and 4 with a mean of 3.6. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 4, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3 and 5 with a mean of 3.1.

Weekly DX Bulletin and Prop report

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:46:18 -0400

Edited to include the prop report (8/2/2008). This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all. TURKEY, TA. Urcun, TA0U, will be active in the European HF Championship on August 2, between 1200 and 2359z, in the SSB/Low Power Category. TUNISIA, TS. Look for special event station TS28ASJ to be QRV until August 3. Activity is for the 28th Arab Scout Jamboree. Operations are expected to be on the HF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK and SSTV. QSL via the Tunisian Bureau. BERMUDA, VP9. Angelio, IK2RZP, will be active as VP9/IK2RZP from August 5 to 24. Activity will be mainly SSB and the digital modes on 17 and 12 meters. QSL via his home call sign, direct or by the bureau. LEBANON, OD. Members of the national club, RAL, are organizing a field day in the Cedar Mountain range on August 2 and 3, signing OD5RAZ. QSL via K3IRV, bureau is ok. FRANCE, TM. Special event station TM0WPC will be activated using CW, SSB and digital modes on 160 through 2 meters from August 3 to 17, celebrating the 18th World Parachuting Championships in Formation Skydiving. QSL via F5KEB. SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, ZL. Tony, ZL2AGY, is on the air signing E51AGY. QSL via his home call. CAYMAN ISLANDS, ZF. John, K8WDN, will be QRV during his vacation from August 4 to 8 as ZF2JG. Look for him mostly on 40 and 20 meter CW, but possibly with some SSB, in the afternoons and evenings. QSL to his home call. NEW CALEDONIA, FK. Jean-Louis, FK/F5NHJ, will be QRV August 12 to 29, concentrating on 30 meter CW and digital. He may make side trips to other nearby islands. ICELAND, TF. TF/G3ZAY, TF/M0BLF and TF/M0SCH will be QRV August 2 through 9. QSL via their home calls. SENEGAL, 6V. Members of the Senegalese SNRASEC ARC, 6W7PCT, will be celebrating Space Week, October 4 through 10, with special call 6V7SPACE. CONGO. 9Q. 9Q1TB (F5LTB), Philippe, continues to be QRV on 40 through 6 meters. He likes 20 meter SSB between 0700 and 0800z and 15 meters (21.188 mHz) in the 1500 to 1600z time frame. QSL via SM5DJZ. BANGLADESH, S21. S21RC was worked on 14265 kHz, just before 1530z. QSL via EB7DX. SOUTH KOREA, 6L. 6L0NJ/4 will be activated by the Gwangju DX Club, from August 15 to 18. They will be on all the HF bands, SSB, CW and digital. QSL via HL4XM. UKRAINE, EM. The UR QRP CLUB is celebrating their 10th anniversary and is QRV with the special call sign EM10QRP until August 4. They have been active on 30 and 20 meters using PSK31. QSL via UT2AB, by the bureau or direct. LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY. Operators Doug, KD8CAO and John, K8YSE will activate the Grand Haven South Pierhead Inner (USA-1077) and Grand Haven South Pierhead Outer (USA-1078) Michigan Lighthouses during the ARLHS 2008 National Lighthouse-Lightship Week. Operation from Grand Haven will be on August 2. On August 3, they will try to activate other Lake Michigan lighthouses. Look for them on all HF bands. Satellite operations on AO-51, SO-50 and AO-27 are a possibility. QSL via K8YSE. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The TARA Grid Dip Contest, National Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend, 10-10 Summer Phone QSO Party, European HF Championship, ARRL UHF Contest, North American QSO Party and the SARL HF DX Contest are all on tap for this weekend. Please see August QST, page 74 and the ARRL and WA7BNM Contest Web Sites for details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ July ended with no sunspots at all, save for three days, July 18-20, when one weak sunspot group appeared and faded from view. Sunspot numbers for those days were 11, 12 and 11. This brings us to our practice of presenting the average daily sunspot number for the past three months, then comparing it with a monthly 3-month moving average for the past couple of years. There were 92 days in May, June and July, and 70 out of those 92 days had no sunspots. This brings us back toward the low of 3 from last fall, centered on October. The average daily sunspot number for the last three months, centered on June, was just 3.7. Jun 06 28.9 Jul 06 23.3 Aug 06 23.5 Sep 06 21.2 Oct 06 24.1 Nov 06 23.1 Dec 06 27.3 Jan 07 22.7 Feb 07 18.5 Mar 07 11.2 Apr 07 12.2 May 07 15.8 Jun 07 18.7 Jul 07 15.4 Aug 07 10.2 Sep 07 5.4 Oct 07 3 Nov 07 6.9 Dec 07 8.1 Jan 08 8.5 Feb 08 8.4 Mar 08 8.4 Apr 08 8.9 May 08 5 Jun 08 3.7 The outlook from the US Air Force Space Weather operations for many weeks now has shown a predicted solar flux of 66, and their prediction from July 31 shows the same, for the next 45 days. This tells me that there isn't any period where we might expect more sunspot activity, or at least no way to foresee it. They predict the next geomagnetic activity of any note for August 10, with a planetary A index of 20. They predict a planetary A index of 8 for August 1, then 5 for August 2-6, then 8 again on August 7. Geophysical Institute Prague echoes that prediction with quiet to unsettled conditions for August 1 and 7, and quiet conditions August 2-6. In response to WD4ELG's comments in ARLP031, Jim Henderson, KF7E of Queen Creek, Arizona has some interesting observations. Jim writes, ''During these spotless and near-minimum flux conditions, I have seen the extreme divergence of the day-to-day propagation paths as a function of the traditional flux numbers. Allowing for seasonal trends, the differences in direction and quality of openings on a given band from day-to-day where the flux and A and K indices remain nearly unchanged for days, the openings generally show much more relationship to the intensity of the solar wind''. ''From here, the patterns of propagation, under the weak stimulation of near minimum flux, show much more pronounced linking to the dynamic wind speed and composition than to simple 2800 MHz flux measurements''. ''I believe without the positive contribution of the 'ionospheric bias' provided by even a low flux, say 80-85, even a small increase in solar wind has a profound effect on the daily paths''. ''Put another way, the good/bad effects upon propagation from minor solar wind changes (not associated with flares and CMEs) are much more observable when the flux is hovering under 68 or so than when it is higher. At that time, we feel the big effects from the major storms. But it is interesting to note the nuances of propagation (say, by observing the NCDXF HF beacons daily) during a quiescent sun''. Thanks, Jim. Maurice Picard, W6FQS of Chico, California wrote: ''I noticed a forecast on a propagation website (http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/index.html) that the geomagnetic field would be unsettled due to a solar boundary crossing. I don't recall seeing reference to this phenomena in any previous forecasts. What is this boundary crossing?'' Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA provided us with this link explaining the term: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/ftpsectorboundaries.html. Carl will be writing the bulletin next week, for Friday, August 8, while your regular author is out of town. Carl will also be on the road, travelling to Rochester, Minnesota for the W0DXCC Convention (see http://www.w0dxcc.com) at the Rochester Amateur Radio Expo. Carl will post his bulletin from Dubuque, Iowa. Check out Carl's excellent propagation writings at http://mysite.verizon.net/k9la/index.html. Another multi-hop sporadic E report from six meters, and this was just last evening. Dave Greer, N4KZ of Frankfort, Kentucky (EM78ne) reports that beginning at 2322z on July 31, on 6 meter CW he worked EA8/DL6FAW (Canary Islands) with good signals both ways. At 2325z he worked EA8AK on CW, and at 0026z on August 1 he worked EA8/DL6FAW on SSB. Dave reports that both stations made many U.S. contacts, but also called CQ many times with no takers. He thinks this is a good example of distant six meter signals propagating to very specific areas, but not others. For instance, he saw that EA6SX in the Balearic Islands was spotted on 50.105 MHz over several hours, but Dave never heard him. He also made Canary Island contacts in summer 2006 and 2007, again working stations in pairs, but earlier in the season and earlier in the day. On June 18, 2006 he worked them around 1300z, and on July 15, 2007 around 2200z. For six years his station has been on a hilltop (on Skyview Drive.) with a very steep slope toward the East and Northeast. He notes that NW Africa is a real sweet spot for him on HF, with incredibly strong signals to and from EA8, D4, CN and CT3. This seems to be true on 6 meters as well. He runs 100 watts into a 4 element Yagi at 60 feet. His best 6 meter DX ever was in November 2001 when he worked KH2GU in Guam, using an 80 meter horizontal loop antenna at a previous QTH. Bill Reichert, N9HH of Troy, Illinois reports 6 meter propagation from earlier in the month. On July 9, at 2342z while mobile from EM58br he worked CT1HZE (Portugal, IM57nh) on 50.084 MHz using a base-loaded quarter wave whip antenna. A few days earlier around 1500z, CU2JT (Azores) called him, but QRM from the East Coast prevented him from completing the contact. This was while Bill was mobile in Collinsville, IL. If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k7ra@arrl.net. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email. Sunspot numbers for July 24 through 30 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean of 0. 10.7 cm flux was 65.4, 65.8, 66.1, 66.3, 66.3, 66, and 66.5 with a mean of 66.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 11, 3, 5, 7, 7, 3 and 5 with a mean of 5.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 7, 2, 4, 4, 6, 2 and 4 with a mean of 4.1.

Weekly DX Bulletin and prop report

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:32:26 -0400

Note: prop report added at end of DX bulletin. This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all. TAIWAN, BX. Jimmy, BX5AA, will be active during the IOTA Contest as a Single Op/All Band/High Power entry. QSL via BX5AA. BALEARIC ISLANDS, EA6. Andre, LX1FX, is expected to be active from Menorca Island (EU-004) between July 22 and August 15, and possibly one week longer. Activity will be on the HF bands and 6 meters as well as 70, 144 and 432 MHz. Modes will be CW, SSB, as well JT6 via MS. ST. BARTHELEMY, FJ. Sam, FG5ED (ex-FG7AS, FK0AT, YJ0KMS), will be QRV from club station FJ5KH until July 31. Activity will be mainly CW. QSL direct to: Sam Sahai, Ch. GODEAU, 13 Avenue Buckeburg, F-72300 Sable, FRANCE. JERSEY, GJ. Members of the Bristol Contest Group (G6YB) will be active as GJ6YB during the IOTA Contest. QSL via G3SWH. SVALBARD, JW. Peter, JW7QIA, will be QRV in the IOTA Contest (EU-026). QSL direct or via the bureau. In addition, Niels, OZ8KR, will be active as JW/OZ8KR from August 12 to 17. Activity will be on 20 meters using SSB. He likes the frequncies 14220 and 14260 kHz. QSL via his home call sign. GUAM, KH2. Operators Hiroshi, JJ1CCE, Shima, JH3AAZ, Koji, JK7TKE and Hiroshi, K6IAA will be active August 2 and 3. Look for operators to sign as KH2/home call with the exception of K6IAA/KH2. Activity will be holiday style operation. QSL via each operator's home call sign, by the bureau or direct. DODECANESE SV5. Operators SV5AZP, SV5AZK, SV5DDP, SV5DKL, SV5DZR, SV5FRD, SV5KJC, SV5FRP, SV5CJK and SV5CJQ will be active as SX5P from Rhodes Island (EU-001) during the IOTA Contest as a Multi-Multi entry. QSL via SV5FRD. CRETE, SV9. Dimitris, SV1JB will be QRV as SV9/SV1JB from Kokini Hani (MIA MGC-005, WLOTA LH-1400), between July 21 and August 7. Activity will be on 80 through 10 meters using CW, SSB and PSK31. QSL via his home call sign, direct or by the bureau. ASCENSION ISLAND, ZD8. Bob, VP8LP, will be active as ZD8LP on August 15 and 16 and September 14. Bob will be using a vertical antenna and intends to be very active on 40 through 10 meters as propagation permits. QSL direct to his home call sign only. MADEIRA, CT3. Operators CT1DSV, CT1EFS, CT1ENV, CT1FEK, CT1HFS and CT1BOL will activate the Selvagens Islands, AF 047, until July 27, as CQ9U and CT95S, including an entry in the IOTA contest. Activity will be on 80 through 6 meters, using mainly SSB. KENYA, 5Z4. Antonio, IK8VRH, will be active as 5Z4/IK8VRH from Malindi during the month of August. Operations will be from the Coast Province North Group (AF-040) from August 15 to 17 and the Coast Province South Group (AF-067) from August 20 to 22. Enrico, 5Z4ES, will be with him. Activity will be on 40, 20 and 17 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. TONGA, A3. Paul, A35RK, is now QRV on the digital modes. Look for him on 20 and 17 meters, as time permits. APPROVED FOR DXCC: 5X4X 2008 operation. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The IOTA Contest and Flight of the Bumblebees are on tap this weekend for your contesting pleasure. Please see July QST, page 78 and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details. ------------------ For several days over the past week we saw a couple of sunspots, but just like other recent dying cycle 23 spots, they faded quickly. This group was number 1000, and lasted from July 18-20. No sign of cycle 24 in recent memory, just a couple of false starts. The autumnal equinox, the beginning of the fall season, is less than 60 days from now. I would like to suppose that cycle 24 will be in full swing by then, but we have no way of knowing. We are still getting regular reports from readers about the continued sporadic-E activity on six and ten meters. Going back a few weeks, Mark Lunday, WD4ELG of Hillsborough, North Carolina commented ''Amazing the stuff that happens at the sunspot lulls. Actually gives calmer conditions under which to observe phenomenon like gray line prop without the geomag disturbances''. That's true, and I can recall a couple of years when there was a fair amount of sunspot activity, but month after month we witnessed severe geomagnetic storms, making HF bands nearly useless, especially at higher latitudes. Back on July 7 at 0210z Mark accidentally switched to 12 meters and heard FO5RH (French Polynesia) calling CQ on CW. This was 90 minutes after Mark's local sunset. They exchanged S5 signal reports. Two days later on July 9 at 2335z, George Pituras, W8KQE of North Olmsted, Ohio (EN91) worked CT9HZE (Portugal) on 6 meters CW, when George was running 100 watts into an omnidirectional loop antenna. The next day he worked Utah on six, completing 48 states worked using the same loop. He hopes someday to confirm Alaska and Hawaii on six. He signs his email, ''Six meters forever!'' Doug Phillips, W7RDP of Sammamish, Washington reports that on July 12 he and a group known as PNW QRP used the call K7S for an annual outing to the Bowman Bay area of Deception Pass State Park on Fidalgo Island. (48.416 deg N, 122.65 deg W, see http://tinyurl.com/5m23qg). In addition to HF, Rod Johnson, WE7X ran 3 watts on 6 meter CW and SSB into a halo antenna 15 feet above his picnic table, and worked several Southern California stations in the Los Angeles and East Mojave Desert area. Jim Henderson, KF7E of Queen Creek, Arizona sends us some provocative observations regarding the double solar cycle peaks and possible double minima, mentioned by W7TJ in ARLP029. Jim writes, ''The double peak was prominent on the last two cycle maxima. Last minimum showed slight double as well. But I have stated since about mid-2005 that the coming cycle will start after a protracted, double minimum (as in a dip, slight but obvious increase, then dip). (Here he references http://tinyurl.com/557up2) ''Of interest to me (besides the admonition that this minimum is not a record low) is the possible support of Mausumi Dikpati, et al's, forecast that this cycle will start late and be ''30-50% more intense' that is revealed in the plots for the 1933 minimum at the end of this piece. ''While we need 200+ days of spotless sun to equal 1933, a comparison of the peak of Cycle 16 (approx 80) to that of Cycle 17 (approx 120) shows that it was almost exactly 50% higher. ''Protracted low, followed by a bigger maximum. ''A bit of good news? ''It doesn't prove anything, but I am encouraged to continue placing my bet on Ms Dikpati.... ''If I am wrong about Dikpati's forecast and we go into an extended period of low cycles, I will be selling my 10/12/15m antennas and installing a 160m Yagi. :-)'' (Dikpati is reference to a 2006 prediction for a large cycle 24. See ARLP010 from 2006 at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/2006-arlp010.html). Mark Bell, K3MSB from Airville, Pennsylvania writes: ''Just read Jeff Hartley's, N8II, comments about the IARU radiosport contest in ARLP030. For me, the biggest surprise was working 5B4AII (1530Z) and TA3D (1635Z) on 10 CW from PA !! They were not strong, and didn't last too long, but I got 'em. As Jeff said, the HQ stations were beacons on 10M!!'' Regarding six meters on June 22, Ed Oswald, W3DUB of Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania wrote: ''Probably not the first mail you got about six meters today but what a morning/afternoon here in FN10. 6 was open today here from the time I first got on the radio around 1600z to right around 2000z, first opening north/south with lots of stations heard here and worked from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee (W3GQ, K4LF, KM4QQ, K4AAK). Stations were booming in S9+ and the band seemed pretty packed. Around 1830z or so the band started going east/west with Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin coming in, with K9ZVZ, N2BJ, N0VZJ, and N0JJQ worked''. ''Have to say the highlight of my day was the contact with KP4A around 2000z on 50.110. That was my first ''DX'' on 6m. Altogether a dozen contacts over four hours and 11 grids. Being new here, those 11 were all new so I'm pretty happy!'' ''Not too shabby for 100 watts using an 80-10 vertical tuned for 6 (if I say so myself)!'' Several readers sent stories from Science Magazine (http://tinyurl.com/5kzphl) and the Baltimore Sun (http://tinyurl.com/6nhvn6) that have nothing to do with propagation, but are interesting pieces on solar physics. For the next week, there are no predictions indicating more sunspots. Predicted planetary A index for the near future is 5, with a slight increase to 8 on August 1, and a large increase to 20 on August 8. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet geomagnetic conditions through the end of the month, except July 27, which is quiet to unsettled. If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k7ra@arrl.net. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email. Sunspot numbers for July 17 through 23 were 0, 11, 12, 11, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean of 4.9. 10.7 cm flux was 65, 65.3, 66.4, 65.9, 66.2, 65.8, and 65.5 with a mean of 65.7. Estimated planetary A indices were 5, 5, 3, 3, 6, 11 and 16 with a mean of 7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 5, 1, 2, 5, 9 and 12 with a mean of 5.3.

Weekly DX Bulletin

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:33:06 -0400

The featured pic for the week is the portable 6m and 2m antennas of George, W4GNE. He is portable in the outer banks all week and next week. Hope to hear some of your stories of the propagation. Some additional pics of his operation are in the W4GNE photo gallery here on FieldComm. Another combined DX and prop report. Sorry that they are late. This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by CT1BOL, OH2BN, PY2QI, QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all. DODECANESE, SV5. Leo, S50R, plans to be QRV as SV5/S50R until July 24. He'll be running wires on 40, 30, 17 and 12 meters on CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via S50R. Leo will be using LOTW. SVALBARD, JW. JW/ON6TI will be active in his evening hours mainly, until July 20. There was no information about bands and modes. QSL via home call. Also, look for JW/OZ8KR from August 12 to 13 and 16 to 17. Watch for him on 14220 and 14260 kHz. QSL via OZ8KR. POLAND, SP. Look for SP7VC/1 and SP8RX/1 from Wolin Island (EU-132) for the IOTA Contest July 26 and 27. QSL SP7VC/1 via SP7VC and SP8RX/1 via DJ0IF. HONG KONG, VR2. The Hong Kong Amateur Radio DX Association will use the special call sign VR2008O during the Olympic Games on 40 through 6 meters with SSB, RTTY and PSK31 until August 31. QSL direct only to VR2XMT, Charlie Ho, P.O. Box 900, Fanling Post Office, Hong Kong. Have a look at the QSL on www.qrz.com/vr2008o . CRETE, SV9. Dimitris, SV9/SV1JB, will be active from Kokini Hani, (EU-015) on CW, SSB and PSK31 using 80 through 10 meters from July 21 to August 7. QSL via home call, direct or via bureau. TIMOR LESTE, 4W. Mike, PA5M, is now active as 4W6AAB for about five weeks. Activity will be limited to his spare time. He was heard on 20 meters around 14047 kHz between 0530 and 0615z. His QSL Manager is PA7FM. MALDIVES, 8Q. Hideki, JA2IVK, will be active as 8Q7SH between July 18 and 20. Activity will be on 80 through 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via JA2IVK, by the bureau or direct to his QRZ.com address. GHANA, 9G. Stefan, DL5XX, plans to be active during his free time as 9G5MM until August 10. Activity will be on all bands using CW. QSL via DL5XX. MOZAMBIQUE, C9. K5LBU's team should be on the air through July 30. They will have two complete stations, one for CW and one for SSB. Activity will be on all bands from 160 to 6 meters. The updated C9 team now consists of the following operators: Charles F. Frost (Frosty), K5LBU/C91CF, QSL via home call sign; Tom Kramer NQ7R/C91TK, QSL via home call sign; Jay Sewell W5SL/C91SL, QSL via home call sign; John Plenderleith 9M6XRO/C91XO, QSL via M3SDE; Bill Dzurilla, NZ5N/C91BD, QSL via WA4WTG; Hal Lund, ZS6WB/call sign pending, QSL via M3SDE only; Bob Novak, K0OK/C91OK, QSL via home call sign and Ben Pyfer, DJ0YI/C91YI, QSL via home call sign. SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E51. Bill, N7OU, will be QRV as E51NOU between September 15 and October 11. Activity will be on 40 to 10 meters using low power and CW only. QSL via N7OU. IRAN, EP. Yuki, JH1NBN, is currently active as EP3BN. His length of stay is unknown. QSL via his home call sign. MAYOTTE, FH. Alain, F6BFH, will be active as FH/F6BFH until August 9. Activity will be on all bands, CW and SSB, but he will pay particular attention to the lower bands. AZORES, CU. OH2UA and OH2BH will be QRV July 21 to 28 for occasional operation. During the IOTA contest, they will activate CU2A. QSL via OH2BH. NORTHERN IRELAND, GI. A group of Irish operators will be active as GI0MPG from Rathlin Island (EU-122) in the upcoming IOTA Contest. Operations will be from the Rathlin East Lighthouse (ARLHS NTI-011). Operators include Declan/EI9HQ, Joe/EI7GY/GI0MPG, Sean/EI4GK, Pete/EI4GZB and Peter/GI4VIV. QSL direct or by the Bureau to GI0MPG. PORTUGAL, CT. Operators CT1DSV, CT1EFS, CT1ENV, CT1FEK, CT1HFS and CT1BOL will activate the Selvagens Islands (AF-047) from July 24 to 27, as CQ9U and CT95S, including an entry in the IOTA contest. Activity will be on 80 through 6 meters, using mainly SSB. BRAZIL, PY. Look for special event station ZW2FEN to be QRV from the Fenarcom Amateur Radio Fair in Indaiatuba, Sao Paulo. All contacts will receive a special QSL. THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The DMC RTTY Contest, Feld-Hell Monthly Sprint, NA RTTY QSO Party, CQ WW VHF Contest and the CQC Great Colorado Gold Rush should keep contesters busy this weekend. Please see July QST, page 78 and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details. NNNN /EX --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SB PROP ARL ARLP030 ARLP030 Propagation de K7RA If today is like yesterday and the day before that, it will be the twenty-sixth consecutive day with no sunspots. Think this is bad? At the last solar minimum there were only four days showing any sunspots between September 5 and October 24, 2006. Chuck Shinn, W7MAP of Coppell, Texas sent in an interesting observation comparing the current solar minimum to the one between cycles 18 and 19. Cycle 19 was the biggest sunspot cycle on record, and peaked around October 1957 to April 1958. Chuck observed that there was a long period of little solar activity in 1953 and 1954. He used a table of smoothed sunspot numbers at http://tinyurl.com/5ujuak and noted that from December 1953 through most of 1954 the smoothed sunspot number was less than seven. Each monthly smoothed number in this table represents an average of monthly averages, I believe for 13 months, six months prior and six months following. That's why December 2007 is the last value shown in this table, because to calculate the January 2008 number, you need to know the average of daily sunspot numbers for all of the current month, July 2008. Looking at it this way, against the 1954 minimum, the current lack of activity does not seem unusual, and the lack of 1954 sunspots didn't indicate that cycle 19 would be below average. The minimum during that period was 2.4 in April, 1954. Between cycles 19 and 20, the lowest value was 7.2 in June 1964. From cycle 20 to 21, March 1976 at 11.1 was lowest, and from cycle 21 to 22 it was September 1986 at 10. The last minimum was 8 in May and August 1996. This puts the current minimum in an interesting perspective. The current minimum is quite low, but it hasn't yet lasted as long or gone as low as the minimum preceding the largest sunspot cycle in recorded history. None of this, of course, can predict the size or length of the upcoming cycle 24. The August 2008 issue of Scientific American has an interesting article concerning solar and geomagnetic activity titled ''Bracing for a Solar Superstorm''. It begins with a narrative describing a huge space weather event on August 28, 1859, one hundred years prior to twentieth century's cycle 19. This was the fiercest ever recorded, and resulted in shutdown of telegraph traffic and aurora observed in the Caribbean. The article says a storm of this magnitude comes along every 500 years or so, but reconstructs events and imagines the impact on current technology infrastructure. There are wonderful graphics and numerous sidebars. Included are some web links I wasn't previously aware of, such as http://solarstorms.org. Within that site at http://solarstorms.org/SRefStorms.html is a history of great solar events, a short primer at http://solarstorms.org/SPrimer.html, and at http://solarstorms.org/S23rdCycle.html downloadable PDFs of the book, ''The 23rd Cycle: Learning to live with a stormy star''. Jeff Hartley, N8II of Shepherdstown, West Virginia sent a report on more multi-hop sporadic-e activity, this time in the IARU contest last weekend. Jeff wrote, ''Condx would have been dreadful with a high K index (peaked at 5) if not for the multi-hop sporadic E during the IARU contest. I made about 20 QSO's on 10 running QRP and was late getting there. There were Europeans/north Africans with good signals on 10 from around 1530-19Z and again weaker from 2330 or earlier thru past 24Z. ''The HQ stations were like beacons (TM0HQ, 9A0HQ, S50HQ, GB7HQ, OL4HQ, EH8U) operating whenever the bands were open. I couldn't get thru to TM0HQ on 10M phone despite a loud S7-8 signal, but did get them easily on CW. All together about 10 Eu Q's were made and a couple with SA on 10M. 15M was open to all of EU except most of Scandinavia at its best and RU1A had a good but unworkable signal with my QRP. Best surprise was easily working ZD8Z on 20M who usually enjoys huge pile-ups. ''2nd best was getting thru to OL4HQ on 75M SSB thru the QRN. 15 was open well again in the last hour at 1100z. ''There was some action on 6M into EU from my area into CT and EA, but I was too busy with the contest.'' Last week's bulletin should have reported on the upcoming weekend geomagnetic activity. For this week, geomagnetic conditions should be mild in the beginning, increasing later. Predicted planetary A index for July 18-24 is 8, 5, 5, 5, 10, 15 and 12. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions for July 18, quiet to unsettled July 19-20, quiet again on July 21, and unsettled July 22-24. If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k7ra@arrl.net. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at http://www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/. Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of this bulletin are at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html#email. Sunspot numbers for July 10 through 16 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean of 0. 10.7 cm flux was 65.4, 65.7, 64.9, 65.2, 65.6, 65.7, and 64.6 with a mean of 65.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 7, 21, 14, 10, 7 and 7 with a mean of 10. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 6, 16, 10, 9, 7 and 4 with a mean of 7.7. NNNN /EX

Christmas Island 2008

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:49:11 -0400

Christmas Island DXpedition has had a schedule change and will soon be on air. http://vk9x.dxciting.com/news/

2008 Postal Increases

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:10:55 -0400

These were effective in May, in case you are trying to catch up on your QSLing as I am.

IRC article updated

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0400

The information on International Reply Coupons and their use has been updated with current information, including pricing and local availability. See the article for details.

WA4FC 6 meter beacon

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:20:00 -0400

Please click here to submit your reception report. We appreciate each report that is sent along. Please be sure to include date, time, QTH, and your station details.

The beacon consists of the following hardware:

Yaesu FT-690R (2 watt output) - operating 50.079.5 mhz
Picokeyer (imbedded inside of radio)
M2 6 meter HO loop antenna at 25 feet
RG-213 feedline (apx 30 feet run)

The beacon is located at:
N 37 10.95 x W 77 30.18
FM17FE

The beacon is operational 24 hours a day. The message sent is VVV de WA4FC/B WA4FC/B WA4FC/B FM17 FM17. This is sent at 12wpm over a 46 second time period, followed by a 20 second pause to allow for reception of other beacons that may possibly be on the frequency.

The WA4FC 6 meter beacon officially became operational on July 1, 2008.

We had thought for several years about putting beacons on the air to help with the study of propagation, and things just started falling into place. Those responsible for the project include W4GNE, N4NI and KD4BPZ. More pictures can be found in the beacon photo gallery.