HF News
We started last week with geomagnetic disturbances that saw the Kp index rise to a maximum of 5.67 on the 28th of February and then hover around the 4.5 mark for the next couple of days.
As predicted, the rest of the week went quite well, with the Kp index in the range of one to four.
The solar flux index fell from a maximum of 210 on the 23rd to a low of 140 on the 2nd. It then climbed back to 160 on the 4th. Over the past week we have had no X-class and only one M-class solar flare on the 5th.
As we head into next week, it looks like all the sunspots in the Sun’s northern hemisphere have now departed. Nevertheless, the southern hemisphere is still supplying lots of spots so don’t panic just yet!
HF conditions have been quite good. Western Australia (VK6IF and VK6IA) was booming in on 28MHz USB on the morning of Thursday the 6th, as was VK9CU on the Cocos-Keeling Islands.
Nigel VP8TXF and Ian VP8CIW have been operating from the Falkland Islands ahead of this weekend’s Commonwealth Contest and have been worked from the UK on 20m-10m. They are there until the 10th, so get in quick.
Other DX to be worked this week includes VU4AX Andaman Islands, 6Y7EI Jamaica, PJ7AA Sint Maarten Island, 4S7KKG Sri Lanka, TY5C Benin, 6W7/ON4AVT Warang Senegal, RI1ANE Antarctica and H44MS Solomon Islands.
Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI will start off around 150 and may then climb to 185 by the 16th. A large coronal hole became Earth-facing on the 6th, which may result in unsettled geomagnetic conditions this weekend, the 8th and 9th.
It looks like we can expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions around the 10th to the 16th, with a maximum predicted Kp index of five.
VHF and up
The weather divides into two segments; the first from the middle of last week through to the middle of next week, is rather changeable with low pressure nearby bringing rain or showers and potential for rain scatter on the GHz bands.
Eventually, the unsettled weather ends with a cold northerly on Tuesday the 11th and this leads to a new high building from Wednesday into the weekend of the 15th/16th.
This is good news for Tropo and could possibly be of benefit to those in the UKAC 70cm on Tuesday the 11th in western UK, but more generally for the FT8 70cm AC on Wednesday and the 50MHz UKAC on Thursday evening.
We are still between major meteor showers and therefore must rely upon random activity for now; the next shower of note being the Lyrids on April 21-22, so we have a while to go yet.
The solar activity has continued to produce a regular supply of auroral alerts and fluttery signals on the LF bands, but with a lot of cloud in northwestern areas and southern parts just marginally out of reach for any naked-eye auroras; although a few digital camera pictures did surface on the web.
Keep an eye open just in case though. Remember Kp=5 or greater is where we need to be.
Lastly, the Sporadic-E prospects are still relatively low with only the odd minor blip up to around an Es critical frequency of 5-7MHz, often around the middle of the day in contrast to the morning and evening windows in the main season. This is enough to get interest in 10m or 6m, but almost certainly a fleeting moment.
EME path losses rise all this coming week and moon declination falls with associated shortening Moon windows and reducing peak Moon elevation. The best results will therefore be early in the week. 144MHz sky noise is moderate this weekend, falling to low in the week commencing the 10th.