[South Florida DX Association] ARLP051 Propagation de K7RA

[Bill Marx]

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 SB PROP ARL ARLP051
> ARLP051 Propagation de K7RA
> 
> This weekend is the ARRL 10-Meter Contest. Conditions aren't great
> at this point in the solar cycle, but this can be a fun single-band
> operating activity. Unfortunately, we may see a recurrence of some
> unsettled to active geomagnetic conditions from the last solar
> rotation. The predicted planetary A index for December 10-13 is 8,
> 20, 30 and 12, so that suggests some rough conditions on Sunday.
> The predicted solar flux for those same days is 85-90, with the
> values rising gradually and peaking around 105 from December 22-25.
> 
> Average daily sunspot numbers for this week were 46, down from 55.1
> for the previous week. Average daily solar flux dropped nearly 14
> points to 97.
> 
> We received mail concerning K5SWW's 10-meter observation of
> Scandinavian CW signals mentioned in last week's Propagation
> Forecast Bulletin, ARLP050.
> 
> Joe Clayton, W2REH wrote: "This 'Scandinavian Express' opening is
> not unusual at all. There were signals here in South Jersey around
> 2100z from SM, OH etc on 10 and 15. Some were a little raspy,
> suggesting a bit of aurora, I guess. This is a regular opening that
> we tend to look for in the contests in the afternoon, particularly
> if someone needs a northern multiplier like JW, or is short a
> Scandinavian mult on 10 or 15."
> 
> Bill Hohnstein, K0HA of Seward Nebraska has been looking at this
> propagation for the past couple of months by listening for beacons
> from Scandinavian countries. He copied the OH5RAC beacon on 28.231
> MHz at 1957z on November 28. He received an email from OH6IY, who
> operates the beacon, reporting that Bill's was the first reception
> report from outside Europe. The beacon operates at 4.5 watts from a
> modified British paging transmitter hooked through 30 meters of
> RG-213 to a dipole on a water tower. OH5IY says the radiation toward
> the United States is very low due to the dipole orientation and the
> low height off the tank roof.
> 
> OH5IY wrote: "The propagation is 'post-Auroral,' the Au ended here
> some hours ago and I am surprised to note the sigs get to USA. The
> antenna is a dipole with ends pointing to AZ 300 degrees, so there
> is several minima to east coast, but the skewed Au paths have
> allowed the propagation from the northern lobe to you."
> 
> Bill thinks the propagation from his end may be a first hop via F2,
> with a trans-equatorial-like spread F-hop after that. Check out
> Bill's impressive antenna farm on the http://www.qrz.com site by
> looking up K0HA.
> 
> John Laney, K4BAI has noticed the same loud Scandinavian signals on
> both 10 and 15 meters, often after openings to the rest of Europe
> have been closed for a couple of hours. He thinks this is more often
> observed during major DX contests, because more Scandinavian
> stations may be on during those times. Chip Margelli, K7JA wrote,
> "That's the usual afternoon OH/SM/LA/UA1Z opening that is more
> commonly observed on 21 MHz. Sometimes it does extend up to 28 MHz,
> and indeed the Scandinavian side is always in darkness."
> 
> Joe Schroeder, W9JUV wrote that he observed the same propagation,
> but on both days of the CQ World Wide when he was running QRP. When
> European signals started to fade, he worked OH, SM and UA1 stations.
> 
> W3DF, W9DY, and N5AW also sent in similar remarks about the late 10
> meter propagation to Scandinavia.
> 
> Ken Brown, N4SO wrote to remind us that there is a log of current or
> recent WWV solar flux and mid-latitude K and A index data on the
> http://www.DXCentral.com site.
> 
> If you would like to comment or have a tip, email the author at,
> k7ra at arrl.net.
> 
> For more information concerning propagation and an explanation of
> the numbers used in this bulletin see the ARRL Technical Information
> Service propagation page at,
> http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html.
> 
> Sunspot numbers for December 2 through 8 were 62, 58, 43, 46, 47, 26
> and 40 with a mean of 46. 10.7 cm flux was 105.6, 100.8, 97.4, 95.9,
> 93.2, 89.7 and 96.5, with a mean of 97. Estimated planetary A
> indices were 4, 3, 1, 8, 19, 15 and 10 with a mean of 8.6.
> Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 4, 1, 0, 7, 11, 9 and 9, with
> a mean of 5.9.
> NNNN
> /EX
> 
>