Last week saw a flurry of sunspots appear that pushed the solar flux index to 87
on the 22nd. Geomagnetic conditions were unsettled last weekend, but this week
has largely seen a respite, with the K-index often being one or even zero. This
resulted in good conditions with the maximum useable frequency hitting at least
21MHz over 3,000km at times. There were reports of good openings on many bands,
and a higher daytime critical frequency meant that 40 metres often opened up for
contacts within the UK around the lunchtime period.
At the time of
writing, sunspot group 2629 continues to develop, but according to NOAA the
solar flux index will decline to the high 70s.
Unfortunately, next week
will be largely unsettled with the K-index predicted to hit four or five from
Tuesday, 31 January to Sunday, 5 February. Not surprisingly, this is due to
another coronal hole on the sun’s surface.
On the bright side, 80 metres
has been showing some good intra-UK openings outside of the mid-day absorption
periods. It has also provided some good DX during the night and around the dawn
greyline time, when it can open up to North America. These won’t last forever so
make the most of them.
VHF and up:
The middle of last week saw the
beginning of the end of the high, which gave some modest lift conditions for
some. All is changing now that the Atlantic fronts are beginning to move in and
it looks like there will be a sequence of fronts and low pressure systems
throughout the coming week. This will put paid to any extension of the lift
conditions and much of the new week will be uneventful from a tropo
perspective.
Look out for rain scatter on the GHz bands though if the
weather brings any heavy showers.
Don’t complain that you never get good
VHF conditions on a Tuesday evening during the activity contests. You severely
reduce your chances of DX if you limit yourself to the same day every week or
month. Remember that there are six other days and nights and there are always
aircraft scatter contacts to try on 432MHz and upwards to 10GHz.
The
winter meteor activity minimum continues, but there are still opportunities for
random meteor scatter contacts around dawn. Moon declination goes positive on
Wednesday and it’s coming in towards perigee, so moon windows will get longer
and losses will fall as the week progresses.
Propagation News - 29 January
2017 - Radio Society of Great Britain - Main Site : Radio Society of Great
Britain – Main Site