[South Florida DX Association] Fw: ARLP028 Propagation de K7RA

Fri Jul 10 18:13:57 EDT 2009

> SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP028
> ARLP028 Propagation de K7RA
> 
> ZCZC AP28
> QST de W1AW  
> Propagation Forecast Bulletin 28  ARLP028
> From Tad Cook, K7RA
> Seattle, WA  July 10, 2009
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB PROP ARL ARLP028
> ARLP028 Propagation de K7RA
> 
> Finally, some sunspot activity to report, and not one of those
> phantom spots, appearing one day and vanishing the next.  Sunspot
> group 1024 first emerged a week ago, on July 3, 2009, with a daily
> sunspot number of 17, and the magnetic signature of a new cycle 24
> spot.  Over the next few days it grew more rapidly and became larger
> than any sunspot group in the past two years.  Today, July 10, it
> should pass over the sun's western limb, and disappear.  Our numbers
> at the bottom of the bulletin go through Wednesday, July 8, and on
> Thursday the sunspot number was 15.
> 
> Look at the table at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/indices/DSD.txt
> and notice the sunspot area, in millionths of a solar hemisphere.
> You can see the size increased rapidly, backed off a bit on July 6,
> then has increased continually since then, at least through July 9.
> 
> You can see a detailed daily progression of the sunspot area at
> http://www.solarmonitor.org/slideshow.php?date=20090703.  If you see
> no image, just refresh your browser, or hit the F5 key.  You should
> see images at different times on July 3, from different
> observatories, gradually stepping through.  The images look
> distinctive based on what part of the electromagnetic spectrum a
> particular observatory is imaging.
> 
> Now change the end of the URL in the web address window from
> date=20090703 to date=20090704, and hit enter.  You should see
> images from July 4.  Keep stepping through subsequent dates, and you
> will see the active region progress toward the sun's western limb,
> which is to the right.
> 
> Last week's bulletin had a report from Brian Smith, W9IND, who said
> the W9VW six-meter beacon in Indianapolis got a listener report from
> France.  This week at 2227z on July 6, it was copied S3 by CU2JT in
> the Azores (HM77).  The beacon runs 8 watts.
> 
> We've had some interesting comments in past bulletins from Dave
> Greer, N4KZ of Franklin, Kentucky, over half about six meters.
> Check bulletins 21 and 23 in 2005, 1 and 24 in 2006, and 32 and 33
> in 2008.  You'll find these at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/, then
> click on ''Show older bulletins''.
> 
> Dave shares more interesting comments with us in this bulletin.
> 
> ''All 6-meter operators know just how fickle the band can be --
> particularly during a multi-hop E-skip opening.  A station just a
> few miles from another might not hear the rare DX being worked by
> the other.  But I had the opposite occur one recent evening when I
> worked California and Ireland within 5 minutes of one another. I
> don't recall ever experiencing multi-hop E-skip in two opposite
> directions before''.
> 
> ''It began at 2350 UTC on June 26 when I heard and called KR6Z in
> DM14 who had a strong signal here in north-central Kentucky, EM78.
> We chatted for 10 minutes and signed.  My friend, Tim, N4GN, over in
> Louisville, 40 miles west of my Frankfort QTH, called and said to
> turn my beam toward Europe because he had just worked Ireland''.
> 
> ''I took his advice and put EI7IX, grid IO53, in my log at 0003 UTC
> with a SSB contact.  He was 57 here.  Then I tuned down the band and
> got on CW where I heard EI2IP in IO61 calling CQ.  He came back and
> I had my second Irish station in the log and thus completed working
> from the West Coast of North America to Western Europe all in a
> 5-minute span.  Amazing.  I don't think I had ever experienced
> anything like that in 25 years of 6-meter operating''.
> 
> ''Others might disagree with me but it seems that the multi-hop
> E-skip has been quite consistent this year -- day after day after
> day.  Of course, I'm at work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and miss out on a
> lot of good stuff but have still managed to put three new entities
> in the log this summer -- Sardinia, St. Kitts and Grenada.  Of
> course, some real good -- and potentially new ones -- got away,
> including D44TD, heard at my QTH for 2 minutes before fading out,
> OD5KU, who I could just barely hear about the noise at mid-morning
> on June 27 and an EA6 who never heard me frantically answering his
> CW CQ.  But I have put a dozen EA8 stations in the log this summer,
> plus Italy, France and Spain, not to mention numerous Caribbean QSOs
> and a strong YV station.  On a recent evening, K6MIO/KH6 was copied
> in Louisville by N4GN but his signal never made it the extra 40
> miles east to Frankfort''.
> 
> ''I have begun reading a bit more about these so-called noctilucent
> clouds and the role they might play in sporadic-E.  Fascinating
> stuff.  First observed after the huge Krakatoa volcanic eruption in
> 1883 in present-day Indonesia, it was originally thought they were
> caused by volcanic debris spewed into the upper atmosphere.  Now,
> the more common theory is the debris that helps the clouds form is
> dust from meteor showers.  But I can't help but wonder, and
> speculate, if the Sarychev Peak volcanic eruption in Russia a couple
> weeks ago hasn't somehow contributed to this E-skip season by
> dumping more debris in the atmosphere -- enough anyway for people
> worldwide to report some very colorful sunsets recently.  Just food
> for thought''.
> 
> Thanks, Dave.
> 
> In other 6-meter news, Ted Saba, KN5O of Covington, Louisiana (EM40)
> worked KL7RA, Richard Strand of Kenai, Alaska (BP40) on 6-meter CW
> on June 30 at 18:50z with 559 reports both ways.  Their signals
> covered a distance of over 3,400 miles.
> 
> Jon Jones, N0JK of Kansas has a six meter report from late June.  He
> reports excellent E-skip on June 23 1415-1700z, 25 at 1408-1500z and
> July 2 1417-1600z, July 3 1400-1520z and a big evening opening at
> 2225-0300z.  During each of those times 5J0BV in San Andreas was
> heard working people, but Jon missed all these openings due to work.
> 
> He writes, ''June 26 was very good with Africa, South America and
> Europe in all at the same time to Kansas.  Using a 2-element Yagi
> and 100 watts on June 26 I worked EA8CQS (IL18) on 6M SSB at 2236
> UTC followed by 8R1DB (GJ06) at 2330 UTC, also on SSB.  CT1HZE had a
> great CW signal for over an hour.  I did not call Joe, CT1HZE as
> have worked him before and he was looking for 6 and 7 call area
> stations''.
> 
> ''Seeing that on several days 5J0BV had Es propagation to the Midwest
> between 1400-1600 UTC, I planned to be ready for him the morning of
> July 4.  I got off work at 1200 UTC (7am) and drove from Topeka back
> to Wichita.  On the way is the portable site I use in EM18.  I was
> set up by 1330 UTC.  Initially heard HI3TEJ and some weak Florida
> stations.  That seemed to be about it.  I was about ready to tear
> down - but stuck with it as I felt between 1430-1500z might be when
> 5J0BV would show.  Sure enough, at 1420 UTC faint CW appeared on
> 50.106.  It was 5J0BV.  In the log at 1427 UTC.  Dennis faded out
> about 5 minutes later''.
> 
> Russ Kendrick, K5RUS of West Monroe, Louisiana sent in a report of
> his recent 2-meter e-skip adventures:
> 
> ''I had just got home from work and turned on the rigs. I saw the E
> cloud on DX Sherlock (see http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php) so I
> pointed the antennas to NE and turned on the 2 meter rig.  I heard
> and worked K1WHS FN43 2259z I began calling CQ then worked VE2DFO
> FN25 2305z (first Canadian for me on 2m) then heard a loud thunder
> clap and some cloud to ground lightning close by.  Took off my
> headset and unhooked everything but the 2meter coax.  Quickly with
> one finger on the desk mic and in between the lightning strokes I
> called CQ.  At 2306z I worked VE2JWH (FN35) and then VE3EN (FN25) at
> 2313z.  I only heard the same guys until 2316z, then nothing until
> 2333z when I heard K1WHS again loud.  I gave him a report, then
> things got quiet except for stations near me calling to the
> northeast.  I found VE3EN on 6 meters at 0028z and had a QSO about 2
> meters.  He put our 2 meter QSO on Youtube.''
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REcR_-3lijo
> 
> VE3EN was as loud to me as I am on his video, but I did not hear him
> say 73.  That's how fast the band can change.
> 
> On May 28, 2008 from 2330z to the 29th at 0005z I made about 25 QSOs
> on 2 meters, 6 states, 6 grids in almost the exact same area and the
> same time, and worked K1WHS as well''.
> 
> If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers,
> email the author at, k7ra at 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 2 through 8 were 0, 17, 24, 26, 23, 21, and
> 18 with a mean of 18.4.  10.7 cm flux was 66.5, 67.3, 71, 71.6,
> 68.9, 71.3, and 70.8 with a mean of 69.6.  Estimated planetary A
> indices were 3, 5, 3, 6, 4, 5 and 6 with a mean of 4.6.  Estimated
> mid-latitude A indices were 2, 3, 2, 4, 3, 3 and 3 with a mean of
> 2.9.
> NNNN
> /EX