HF News
As we enter November, our thoughts turn to low-band operation. The next four months will favour DXing on 160, 80 and 40m, regardless of where we are in the sunspot cycle
Speaking of which, the SFI fell below 100 this last week, hitting a low of 89 on a couple of occasions. The good news is we had no solar flares to temporarily stop our HF fun, and the Kp index was mostly in the sub-Kp =3 zone, bringing quiet geomagnetic conditions.
There was DX to be had, including XX9TXN (Macau) on 10m FT8, 6W/IK2HKT (Senegal) on 12 and 10m FT8, E26BWH (Thailand) on 15m CW, KH0W (Mariana’s) on 10m CW, and E51MWA (North Cook Islands) on 40m CW.
DX to be worked this week includes the aforementioned E51MWA and 6W/IK2HKT, plus KH8A (American Samoa), FW3GT (Futuna Island), V26JJ (Antigua), 9X5KM (Rwanda) and YJ0SP (Vanuatu).
Next week, NOAA forecasts that the SFI will be in the range 82-84. This weekend is set to be unsettled geomagnetically with a predicted maximum Kp index of five. This is due to a high-speed solar wind stream flowing from a solar coronal hole on the Sun’s equator. The rest of the week is forecast to be good with a typical Kp index of 2-3.
Back to low-band operations and now is a good time to check that your 80m and 40m antennas are in good condition, also your 160m antenna if you are lucky enough to have one. We can expect conditions to improve as we head towards the winter solstice, with long hours of darkness. Also look for greyline openings around sunrise and sunset, which may only last a few minutes. More details will follow as we get closer to winter.
VHF and up
The classic autumn theme of high-pressure weather is with us at the moment and, starting at the beginning of last week, it may well last to the end of the coming week, giving a typical 10-14 day window to get some Tropo in the log. Instead of the usual scrabble through co-channel interference on the repeaters, or clicking callsigns with FT8, consider trying CW and SSB as well as the traditional FM modes, which might get very busy.
High pressure will remain over or near the UK for much of the time. The quality of any lift will depend on the moisture contrast across the temperature inversion. Autumn mists and fog or low cloud are good signs for a better duct. As a broad rule, beaming around the edges of a large high-pressure area is preferable to going across the centre where the inversion may be too close to the ground.
November is an interesting month for meteor scatter with the Taurids in the first half of the month leading to the Leonids mid-month. Aurora should remain worth checking via the usual Kp index for values above Kp=5
There are still reports of QSOs via sporadic-E up to 50MHz on FT8 and, in view of a very disturbed jet stream pattern over Europe and across the Atlantic to the eastern States, there are reasons to keep looking on digital modes for the chance of an opening.
EME now, and with the Moon declination just past its highest and path losses still low, this weekend is ideal if you are an early bird. The Moon is visible for around 13 hours on Saturday and Sunday from midnight onwards with peak Moon elevation over 60 degrees in the UK. 144 MHz sky noise is moderate, falling to low as next week progresses.