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The Appearance of Sunspot 981 Marked the Beginning of Solar Cycle 24.....ssn# 981 appeared on 04 Jan 2008

The Webmaster is only able to use one hand to type.  Because of that, a dictation program is frequently used.  The program continually scans the dictation and often makes random changes in the text after final (pre-publication) proofreading has been made.

Propagation Global 

Real Time Ionospheric Conditions   IPS
Australia/NZ	North Atlantic	North America	Japan	Europe

  Solar Weather / Indices For Australia   

•   IPS Real Time USA Region HF PREDICTIONS NVIS frequencies can be calculated by putting the same location for transmitter and receiver

This Web Site features a page on " Current Conditions " that includes a section of information from the ACE Satellite that covers Solar and Geomagnetic activity for the past 7-days.

• Geophysical Forecast page

• GRAFEX  HF PREDICTIONS - Point-to-Point HF Predictions Anywhere in the World (short path) GRAFEX predictions provide for communications between two fixed terminals. The mode by which the wave is most likely to propagate, expected times of interference, suggested take-off angles, antenna bearings and other information concerning propagation conditions is given.

•  

  Local Area Mobile Predictions (LAMP)

   

   

Definition of the Ionospheric Regions

Relationship of Solar Indices and Radio Wave Propagation:

Source of Information of Solar Indices:

•     This Web Site (Basic Indices:  Solar Flux, A Index, Boulder K Index) WWV

•     This Web Site (More detailed indices: Planetary Running A,
•         Estimated Planetary  K 

•     Sun Spot Number, 10.7 cm Radio Flux)   Advisory Conditions    

•     Sources of World's Official Solar Weather Sources of Information, Terms,

•    and  Definitions    Information Sources page

Definitions and Explanation of  relationship of Indices and Radio Wave Propagation                   Terms page;    Definition page; 

Technical Explanation of  Terms and Their  Derivation  Technical Definitions of  Indices page;    Non-Technical  Explanation of  Terms to Accompany NOAA's Weather Today page

 Non-Technical Explanations of Solar Measurements page

A Index
"Linear index for measuring the disturbance level in the earth's magnetic field. The index is 

defined over a period of one day. An A index can be defined for any location on earth and also

for the entire globe. A very useful planetary index is the Ap index." 

• Levels of A index are often described as follows: 

  • A index less than 8 - "quiet"; 

  • A index from 8 up to and including 15 - "unsettled"; 

  • A index from 16 up to and including 24 - "active"; 

  • A index from 25 up to and including 35 - "minor storm"; 

  • A index from 36 upwards - 'major storm'."  IPS Radio & Space Services

K  index : The K index is a local measurement and represents a 3 hour measurement of geomagnetic activity by a single site.  The scale used is based on the geomagnetic activity relative to an assumed quiet-day curve.   K index values range from 0 (very quiet) up to 9 (extremely disturbed).

• The Kp index is designed to measure solar particle radiation by its magnetic effects. The K_p index is a planetary geomagnetic calculation of activity based  on the K index  from 12 or 13 stations and represents a global measurement.  A scale of 0 to 9 is used. 0 is very quiet and 9 is the most disturbed condition.  Values over 3 indicate declining to poor operating conditions.

  • The Costello Geomagnetic Activity Prediction model is based on two hours of observation.

Solar Flux Unit
Unit of radio emission from the sun, usually given as 10 ** (-22) watts per square meter.

The solar flux is directly proportional to the sunspot number, so the higher solar flux number (which would occur near the peak of the sunspot cycle) the better the propagation on frequencies above 10000 kHz.

Ionospheric X-Ray Absorption Maps - Near Real-Time

5 MHz Absorption Map
10 MHz Absorption Map
15 MHz Absorption Map
20 MHz Absorption Map
25 MHz Absorption Map
30 MHz Absorption Map

Digital Display World Time Clock

World Weather - lookup Country and City

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Field Day 2005

This article will describe the solar and geomagnetic conditions that existed for 25 and 26 June, 2005 in the United States. These two days in June were designated " Field Day  " by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). The article will also include the author's interpretation of how these "space weather" conditions effected high frequency (HF) radio wave propagation on the 20-meter band. The point of reference is 35 deg 59 min N. Latitude / 86 deg 52min W. Longitude. These are the coordinates of the Webmaster's QTH and the base station that was used during the Field Day weekend.

The base station is located in the central portion of the State of Tennessee, which is in the south eastern portion of the United states. The station is best described as a "little gun" operation primarily due to the antenna configuration.

It took a handicapped antenna assembler the better part of three months last summer to construct a GAP Titan antenna and then swing it into it vertical position using a ground mounted fold-over mount. The base of antenna sits on the top of a hill some 600-feet above sea level. The antenna is surrounded by dense forest on two sides and a house on its third side. The take-off angle is 12 degrees.

Before laughing too hard, please keep in mind that when the antenna was connected to a portable, battery powered, 75-watt, Yaesu FT-757 for the initial placement and tuning of several of the antenna elements -  the first station heard was a 9K (Kuwait), and it was worked with a Q5 signal both ways.

The 2005 Field Day station used the same antenna mentioned above. An antenna tuner was not used and the SWR stayed below 1:2 across the entire 20-meter band. The transceiver used was the Webmaster's old Yaesu FT-1000. We ran un-amplified signals at 75 watts on 20-meter single side band (SSB). Power on the transceiver was turned up to 190 watts on SSB for about 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon to see if the increased power made any difference in getting through several pile-ups. Power was 50 watts on cw.

Solar and Geophysical conditions the week prior to and the weekend of Field Day 2005

Solar and Geomagnetic Activity Influence

Page last updated   16 March, 2008 08:57 PM   CDT