SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP012
ARLP012 Propagation de K7RA

ZCZC AP12
QST de W1AW
Propagation Forecast Bulletin 12  ARLP012
> From Tad Cook, K7RA
Seattle, WA  March 23, 2018
To all radio amateurs

SB PROP ARL ARLP012
ARLP012 Propagation de K7RA

At 2332 UTC on March 22 the Australian Space Forecast Centre issued a
geomagnetic disturbance warning for this weekend, March 24 and 25. "Expect the
geomagnetic activity to increase to mostly Active levels with isolated periods
of Minor to Major Storm levels due to a high speed solar wind stream associated
with a negative polarity coronal hole becoming geo-effective".

In last week's report, ARLP011, there were no sunspots over the reporting week.
 On March 15 one new sunspot appeared for a sunspot number of 11, which is the
minimum non-zero sunspot number.  The
next day it was gone, then a new sunspot appeared March 17.  Sunspot numbers on
March 17 and 18 were 15 and 13, then none for the rest of our reporting week,
March 19 to 21.  So the average daily sunspot number increased from 0 over the
previous week to 5.6 over the most recent 7 days, ending Wednesday March 21.

Average daily solar flux over the same two periods increased from 67.7 to 69.3.
 Geomagnetic indices about doubled, with average planetary A index changing
from 7.1 to 14.4, and mid-latitude A index increasing from 5.7 to 11.3.

Predicted solar flux is 68 on March 23 through April 2, 69 on April 3 and 4, 70
on April 5 to 15, 69 on April 16 and 17, 68 on April 18 to 29, 69 on April 30
through May 1, and 70 on May 2 to 6.

Predicted planetary A index is 8, 22, 24, 18 and 8 on March 23 to 27, 5, 15, 10
and 8 on March 28 to 31, then 5 on April 1 to 9, then 8, 15 and 20 on April 10
to 12, then 15 on April 13 and 14, then 8 and 12 on April 15 and 16, 18 on
April 17 to 19, 15 and 8 on April 20 and 21, and 5 on April 22 to 25, 8 on
April 26 and 27, and 5 on April 28 through May 6.

The spring equinox began at 1615 UTC on Tuesday, March 20 in the Northern
Hemisphere.  At that moment solar radiation was equally distributed between the
Northern and Southern Hemisphere.  Except
for the low solar activity, the beginning of spring should be an ideal time for
worldwide HF communication.


Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period March 23 to April 17, 2018 from F.
K. Janda, OK1HH.

"Geomagnetic field will be:

Quiet on April 3, 7 to 9
Mostly quiet on March 28, 30, April 6
Quiet to unsettled on March 26 and 27, 31, April 1 and 2, 4 and 5, 16 to 18
Quiet to active on March 23 to 25, 29, April 10 and 11, 13, 15
Active to disturbed on March 26, April 12, 14

Solar wind will intensify on March 25 to 28, (31,) April (6 to 8,)
10 to 18

Remark:
- Parenthesis means lower probability of activity enhancement."


Scott Bidstrup, TI3/W7RI sent this article:

https://bit.ly/2uexnYk

Scott's observation was that the rogue sunspots toward the end of a solar cycle
suggest a weaker subsequent cycle.  But I was pleased to see the article
suggest that the rogue sunspots could suggest a strong cycle like cycle 19 at
the end of the 1950s.  That would be exciting!

Scott also wrote:

"Well, down here in the single-digit latitudes, the declining solar cycle has
had some interesting effects on propagation.  Ten meters has been opening
almost every day, sometimes as early as 9AM local time, and providing quite
reliable communications into South America through most of the day.  By local
noon, the FT8 window on ten meters often looks like the window on twenty,
packed with signals end to end, but most days into the same region - southern
Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, occasionally with Chile.  It has all the
characteristics of afternoon TEP openings.  Almost every day, the band will be
open until 3PM or 4PM local time, when it will suddenly fold, in just ten
minutes going from wide open to flat dead.

My daily sunrise coffee klatch with the local gringo hams on 75m has been
affected by the very low solar activity, too.  We usually kick off around local
sunrise, but the band has been failing to shorten up for local propagation,
often failing to open till as much as an hour after local sunrise.  Lately, the
band opening has not only been late, it's been remarkably sudden when it does
happen, often going from almost no local signal at all, to the strong S9+10
signals in as little as a minute.  It's like God's flipping a switch.  One of
the more odd aspects of this is that when this transition occurs, the DX
signals occasionally don't fade out for half an hour or more, and we've had to
move our frequency because of frequent Stateside QRM on the frequency we've
been using without a problem for years.  More than once, we've had roundtables
with Stateside stations that were as strong our local stations were - at least
until the D-layer finally kicks in and they're faded out and gone. 
Occasionally, the DX fades well before the local propagation opens up, too. 
It's all very unpredictable.

160 meters down here has greatly benefited from the FT8 revolution as well as
the improved conditions for top band at the bottom of the solar cycle.  Seems
that lots of the locals, me included, have discovered that a hundred watts into
a force-tuned 80m antenna will produce useful results on 160m FT8.  In my own
case, I've worked a number of European stations, including Belarus and Greece,
using nothing more than 60 watts into a G5RV antenna at 50 feet.  The best DX
seems to be appearing about two hours after the band opens at sunset.  My good
friend Jay, HP3AK, has worked a couple of dozen European and Far East stations
using a 60 foot folded 160m vertical monopole with only seven radials.  All in
all, it's been a lot of fun being able to actually work someone on top band
here without going to all the effort of putting up a dedicated antenna. With
all our atmospheric noise here, this is a new experience for most all of us."

The CQ World-Wide WPX SSB Contest is this weekend.  See https://www.cqwpx.com/


For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical
Information Service at http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals.  For an
explanation of numbers used in this bulletin, see
http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere.

An archive of past propagation bulletins is at
http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation.  More good information and
tutorials on propagation are at http://k9la.us/.

Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas
locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation.

Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL bulletins are at
http://arrl.org/bulletins.

Sunspot numbers for March 15 through 21, 2018 were 11, 0, 15, 13, 0, 0, and 0,
with a mean of 5.6.  10.7 cm flux was 69, 68.6, 69.7, 69.1, 70.3, 68.8, and
69.3, with a mean of 69.3.  Estimated planetary A indices were 15, 20, 13, 25,
16, 8, and 4, with a mean of 14.4.  Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 13,
17, 10, 16, 13, 7, and 3, with a mean of 11.3.

NNNN
/EX

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
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