HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Propagation => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on May 10, 2022, 2010 UTC
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSaHYCzVgAIdrhk?format=jpg&name=medium)
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Well sir, if ya'll like hearin' rantin' & ramblin' on cb channels yah got sumpin tah lookin' fawdward to, ya heah? ::)
Just got my Spaceweaher.com email & looks like our Sun is barfin' out a "Corona Mass Ejection"...whatever the Hell that is!!
8) Will sunglasses help? 8)
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Looks promising on the graph, but personally I'm not hearin' much of the resulting improved DX, at least not yet.
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I still am not hearing the results like I heard in 2011, when -- at least according to this graph -- the sunspot numbers were roughly comparable.... and this is with the same, or better equipment.
That said, the climb of sunspot numbers in this cycle appears less 'jumpy' than the previous one, so perhaps once it all kicks in we'll see more dependable long distance reception on HF and MW.
One can hope.
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FWD, from K8RRT: https://www.onallbands.com/solar-cycle-25-update-what-hams-should-know/ Just a slight warning that there's some DX Engineering pitching at the end of this.
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About 2-3 afternoons ago I heard my first snippet of Latin American CB Outbanders talkin' from country to country. It was weak, and there was a lot more fading than in 2011-2012, but at least it was there. Pretty sure I heard at least one guy from Costa Rica, and I'm in the PNW, so it's a sign that perhaps the cycle is starting to kick in.
Obviously, there are probably less CBers, even in Latin America, than there were ten years ago, but there should be enough of them wanting to shoot skip that the Outband should be fairly lively if the propagation permits.
I've heard at least three decent signals from Europe on 20 meters over the past couple weeks, so there's that, too.
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Latin American 11m signals have been fairly common here the entire year, although not all day long. Also the occasional opening to Europe, but I haven't encountered one in the past few weeks.
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Latin American 11m signals have been fairly common here the entire year, although not all day long. Also the occasional opening to Europe, but I haven't encountered one in the past few weeks.
One reason for the difference between our reception experiences is probably the latitude. I'm above 47N, Maryland is centered around 39N, plus the general time zone / geographical advantage (ET is closer to South American time zones).
But still, me hearing Latin American outbanders is a sign that prop is slowly picking up. During the sunspot lull it was deadsville, as was much of the SW spectrum many nights and mornings.
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The last couple weeks have been touch and go. At least three separate nights / mornings where the ionosphere sounded like frying eggs, with the US domestics barely readable and even MW sucked, more or less. One evening / a.m. WWV on 10 Mhz was completely MIA, and I never experienced that before the downturn in the last cycle around 2017. Since the downturn, it seems to happen at least once or twice a month.
So in the northern tier latitudes, we're not out of the woods yet.
But you turn on the radio, tune around, never know what you just might hear. There are surprises that happen, even when the SW bands are down, down, down.
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Don't know if or how relevant the following is but last moi checked (a couple days ago) 27 megahertz cb had lots of chatter...still, & most all of it from pretty much anywhere east of the Rockies, especially the southern U.S. up to this area.
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As I am typing this, the SSN is... 12. That's it, 12.
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00:00 UTC 02 DEC 2022
The SSN is still at 12 and the Kp is at 5. This is ok for short distances but definitely not so good for any long distance work. There will be a bit of a window of opportunity between 08:00 to 11:30 UTC followed by 15:00 to 20:00 UTC. Obviously, all subject to change.
(http://www.milspec.ca/board/img/2022-12-01_192841.png)
(http://www.milspec.ca/board/img/2022-12-01_192213.png)
(http://www.milspec.ca/board/img/2022-12-01_192350.png)
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The SSN is up to 49 now with a new sunspot rotating into view. A few C class flares so far.
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There are 2 associated RSS feeds which I monitor in my RSS feed reader from the Government of Canada - Space Weather Canada which may be of interest to people.
References:
https://spaceweather.gc.ca/ (https://spaceweather.gc.ca/)
https://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/rss-en.php (https://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/rss-en.php)
Geomagnetic Activity / Forecast RSS Feed:
"Notifies you of our latest Geomagnetic Activity forecast. This includes storm watches, current conditions, and the forecast for the next 6 hours."
http://spaceweather.gc.ca/rss_feed/rss_feed_eng.xml (http://spaceweather.gc.ca/rss_feed/rss_feed_eng.xml)
Storm Watch RSS Feed
"Notifies you of Geomagnetic Activity Storm Watches."
http://spaceweather.gc.ca/rss_feed/rss_feed_warning_eng.xml (http://spaceweather.gc.ca/rss_feed/rss_feed_warning_eng.xml)
If anyone knows of other related RSS feeds I would be interested in the links.
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SSN is 93 at the moment. 2022 has only had one day so far with zero measured sunspots.
About the solar cycle, another marker is averaged monthly neutron counts, which have been trending downwards this year. Detected neutrons from cosmic rays are inverse to increased solar activity strengthening the sun's magnetosphere.
https://cosmicrays.oulu.fi/
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Just wondering if / when the Solar Cycle peaks, will it be stronger than the last one. According to NASA, the last cycle's peak had the same amount of solar irradiance as the Solar minimums had in the 1970s. And does Solar irradiance affect propagation, or just the number of sunspots?
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Just wondering if / when the Solar Cycle peaks, will it be stronger than the last one. According to NASA, the last cycle's peak had the same amount of solar irradiance as the Solar minimums had in the 1970s. And does Solar irradiance affect propagation, or just the number of sunspots?
.... And I can answer my own question: Solar Irradiance is ultimately what makes the Ionosphere work, and if Solar Irradiance drops, so does the ability of the Ionosphere to reflect/refract radio signals.
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"SOLAR IRRADIANCE" - Now that's a great name for a band!
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Looks like the high HF ham bands, I.e., the 15, 12, 11 and 10 meters bands are finally seeing activity of note. A bit of CW on 15 and 12, 17 has a bit of CW and SSB activity, and 10 is waking up.
The activity level is almost reaching what it was during the Solar minimums in the 1990s. We must be nearing the peak.
Of course, if you're in the higher latitudes, as I am, you notice less overall activity than one does further south.