SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP027
ARLP027 Propagation de K7RA
ZCZC AP27
QST de W1AW
Propagation Forecast Bulletin 27 ARLP027
From Tad Cook, K7RA
Seattle, WA June 29, 2007
To all radio amateurs
SB PROP ARL ARLP027
ARLP027 Propagation de K7RA
We are seeing new sunspots over the past few days after eleven days
with none at all. Lack of solar activity made Field Day this year
(June 23-24) a real cycle minimum experience. Most areas saw very
little 10 and 15 meter activity, so 80, 40 and 20 meters were the
place to be. Saturday night I was at my new place of employment,
having joined the employee ham club days earlier, and operating N7OS
on 40 meters atop a tall parking structure on the corporate campus
in Redmond. I was amazed at how weak many of the signals on 40
meters sounded, on both SSB and CW.
Sunspot numbers for June 25 to 28 were 11, 11, 15 and 27. The
numbers may edge a little higher over the next few days, with more
zero sunspot days possible around mid-July. Geomagnetic activity is
expected to remain quiet.
Six meters opened in some areas this week. Brian Alsop, K3KO of
Henderson NC (FM06) along with K4CIA (FM05) worked KH6FI on SSB and
NH6P on CW around 1800z on June 21. Both are on the east end of the
island of Hawaii. That is quite a haul for six meters, as K3KO and
KH6FI are over 4,700 miles apart.
The day before, June 20, around 1220z Jeff Hartley, N8II of
Sherpherdstown, West Virginia worked Spain and Portugal, EA7TN
(IM56) and CT1HZE (IM57) on 6 meters, both SSB and CW. He says it
was intense sporadic-E clouds which gave him the multi-hop
propagation and good signals. And on Thursday evening, June 28, Ken
Tata, K1KT of Warwick, Rhode Island reported ''Six meters is going
nuts right now.'' He sent a live map from http://www.vhfdx.net/
showing lines between six meter stations around the United States
and the Caribbean working each other, with intense activity from W2,
W8 and W4 land.
There were also 10 and 15 meter reports this week. Barry Eure,
KS4RT near Chattanooga and his 10 year old son Matthew, KI4QCX
worked Maine on 10 meters and then Chile and Brazil on 15 meters,
all on June 25 around 2100 to 2300z. Also that day Vic Woodling,
WB4SLM of Centerville, Georgia was copying European stations on 4
meters, or 70 MHz, a band not open to amateur operators in the
United States. He said VE9AA was working them crossband from six
meters.
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 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/.
Sunspot numbers for June 21 through 27 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 11, 11 and
15 with a mean of 5.3. 10.7 cm flux was 65.5, 65.3, 65.9, 66.9,
67.6, 70.5, and 73.2, with a mean of 67.8. Estimated planetary A
indices were 14, 16, 11, 6, 5, 5 and 5 with a mean of 8.9.
Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 8, 12, 8, 4, 3, 4 and 5, with
a mean of 6.3.
NNNN
/EX
