Nov 8, 2008

There is a new DX information page that you may find interesting.
Please take this link and see what you think.

http://www.ultradx.com/



May 30, 2008

This week we saw only one sunspot, numbered 997, and only on Labor

Day, May 26.  Alas, this was another sunspot left over from fading

Cycle 23, and the appearance was very brief.  One day it weakly

emerged, and it quickly faded from view.  The previous five days

were spotless; spots appeared on the five days prior to that, and

previous to those spotted days were ten days of no spots.

 

If our Sun shows no more sunspots today and tomorrow, May 30-31, we

will see a 3-month average of daily sunspot numbers centered on

April just above the values for every 3-month average since the

minimum, centered on October 2007.  The values through April are 3,

6.9, 8.1, 8.5, 8.4, 8.4, and 8.9.  Because this is a three month

average, we won't know the value centered on May until the end of

June.

 

If these numbers suggest Cycle 24 is stalled, we can compare with

the previous minimum.

 

Using the same scheme, the 3-month averages of daily sunspot numbers

centered on September 1996 through March 1997 (which includes all

the sunspot data from August through the following April) were 8.7,

10.2, 14.2, 16.4, 11.7, 11.3, and 16.4.

 

Those are slightly higher values 11 years ago compared with the

current numbers, but notice the six months following the minimum

also seemed to flatten out.  And while the last bottom had slightly

higher average sunspot numbers, it had one longer period of no

spots.

 

If we rank periods of spotless days back to the mid-nineteenth

century, the period between Cycles 22 and 23 had the tenth-ranked

spotless days period, the 42 days from September 13 through October

24, 1996.  Now between Cycles 23 and 24 we have observed two

stretches of spotless days of at least three weeks, a fifty-third

ranked 22 days in September, and the twenty-ninth ranked 28 days in

October and November of last year.

 

The three longest spotless periods since the mid-nineteenth century

were 92 days leading up to Cycle 15 in 1913, 69 days prior to Cycle

14 in 1901, and 54 days before Cycle 12 in 1879.  You can peruse the

72 longest periods of zero sunspots  lasting 20 days or more, all

ranked from longest to shortest at the site,

http://tinyurl.com/6b4d6s.

 

Recently we offered notes from Dr. Kenneth Tapping, showing why he

doesn't think this minimum is unusual, to anyone who sends a blank

email to SunspotMin@gmail.com.

 

The response was huge, over 900 requests, and the offer still

stands.

 

Dr. Tapping is an astrophysicist at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical

Observatory in Penticton, British Columbia (see,

http://tinyurl.com/3lqtab) which supplies the world with their daily

10.7 cm solar flux readings, also reported here.

 

The notes were offered after Dr. Tapping was widely misquoted

several months ago (and since then, as the mangled quotes seem to

have taken on a life of their own) on various web sites claiming

that Dr. Tapping foresaw possibly decades of no sunspots, and then

trying to link this to several sorts of worldwide calamity.  Some

pieces even claimed that the sunspot cycle hit bottom a year and a

half ago, and that no sunspots have been observed since, a false

claim easily refuted by existing data, widely available.

 

Last week this bulletin mentioned a free downloadable copy of Bob

Brown's "Little Pistol's Guide to HF Propagation," but it seems it

isn't free after all.  I knew the book was out of print, and had

seen the PDF version at the web address I gave for so long that I

wrongly assumed downloading this was legal, but apparently not.  It

is actually still being published as the same PDF document on a CD

ROM produced by World Radio Magazine.

 

For the next week expect more of the quiet geomagnetic conditions

seen recently.  The U.S. Air Force and NOAA Space Weather Prediction

Center predict a planetary A index beginning May 30 at 10, 8, 10,

10, and then 5 from June 3-14.  They also predict the next period

when daily solar flux is above 70 to be June 12-20.

 

Geophysical Institute Prague foresees unsettled conditions May

30-31, unsettled to active June 1, unsettled June 2, quiet to

unsettled June 3, and quiet conditions June 4-5.

 

Currently we are just a few weeks away from the Summer Solstice, the

longest day of the year.  This officially occurs at midnight GMT on

June 21.  Our current sporadic-E season continues, with often

unexpected openings on 6 and 10 meters.

 

Ray Soifer, W2RS at his Texas vacation home observed 6 meter

openings observed from EM00 to Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee and

Mississippi.  During last weekend's WPX contest using 100 watts and

a very simple antenna, he worked all continents on 20 meters in just

25 minutes on Saturday at 2220-2245z.

 

Joaquin Montoya, EA2CCG from Spain reports great openings from his

mobile on 6 and 10 meters on Saturday, including 10 meter FM into

Europe.  On mid-day Saturday he worked 27 stations in Europe on 6

meters with great signals, and he heard a very strong signal from an

EA8 in Africa.  The next day 10 meters was open again, although not

as strong, but 6 meters was not.

 

Julio Medina, NP3CW in San Juan, Puerto Rico reported great

conditions on 6 meters on May 22-23, working many stations across

the U.S. and into South America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

 

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 web page 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 May 22 through 28 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 12, 0, and 0

with a mean of 1.7.  10.7 cm flux was 69.3, 67.8, 68.5, 68.3, 68,

67.9, and 67.8 with a mean of 68.2.  Estimated planetary A indices

were 9, 10, 7, 6, 4, 3 and 12 with a mean of 7.3.  Estimated

mid-latitude A indices were 7, 7, 4, 7, 3, 2 and 10, with a mean of

5.7.

 

November 5, 2007

October 18, 2007

YB1A, Halim Park, passed away in August 2007.  Halim was originally
from South Korea and was flown back to HL land for interment.  He was
one of the more active DXers from Indonesia

October 4, 2007

In order to foster good will and advance cooperation on the 20 meter band the W7PHO Family Hour Net and other regular users in adjacent frequencies have agreed to slightly adjust the exact frequencies they have been customarily meeting on in the morning hours.   

The W7PHO Family Hour will be meeting now each morning starting at 14:00 UTC on 14.244.0 instead of 14.245.0. This is only a move of 1 KHz. The group that has been meeting on 14.247.5 will slide up to 14.248.5. This movement was agreed upon by both parties and an amicable accommodation was accomplished. QRM between the groups will be greatly diminished and all groups concerned will gain because of this cooperation.  

There has been some concern about a Spanish speaking group that is sometimes meeting on 14.250 and they will be contacted to make sure that they are taken care of and that the other parties will do what they can to accommodate them as well.  

This is a good example of how amateurs can regulate themselves and solve problems without having to involve outside influences like the FCC. We are all trying to work together to make this fine hobby even better.

 

Aug 21, 2001

Bill Moore, NC1L, ARRL DXCC Manager, states: "Just a reminder to those who achieve a level in DXCC and you wish to order a wall plaque that you do not have to wait to be listed in order to place your order. When submitting an application if you are sure you will achieve a level for which there is a plaque, you can place your order at the time of your application. (Years ago there was a requirement that you had to be listed before a plaque could be purchased, this is no longer the case). If you've already made a submission and felt you needed to wait for your achievement to be posted before placing your order, you can contact DXCC and we can add your order to your current submission. Send an E-mail to dxcc@arrl.org or call (860)594-0234 or fax to (860)594-0346. Plaque order turnaround can take anywhere from 6-8 weeks, so if you plan to order a plaque for yourself, or, as a gift for a friend or Elmer, please get your order in early. The order form, along with current pricing, is located on the DXCC Web site at:

http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc

July 26, 2007

Just added Ed NX7TT, one of the alternate USA net controllers listed in Net Info Page 2. Check out the photos of him at his current home station and other DX locations he has been at. Please other alternate controllers in the US and outside DX.....Please send me photos and I will add you just as I did Ed.....but I need photos and some info to do the development. Ed has a personal web page and he did not need it, but if you do not have one and want one listed on your QRZ listing please send me the info and I will build you one....FREE...so that you can be listed on QRZ as having a web page and we can get more publicity for the Family Hour...Thanks Larry

 

July 19, 2007

Sheridon Street  HS0ZEE has been added to regular check-ins. Please check out his picture on the regulars page and take the link to his page. Sheridon has requested that you check out his on-line logs to see if you are there if you have had a resent QSO.  Go to DX Logs on this page to see his on-line log. Lets welcome him to the family hour family.