Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mgweed.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mgnetp!mgweed!rjr From: rjr@mgweed.UUCP (Bob Roehrig) Newsgroups: net.ham-radio Subject: arrl propagation forecast bulletin nr 47 Message-ID: <13696@mgweed.UUCP> Date: Tue, 20-Nov-84 17:15:39 EST Article-I.D.: mgweed.13696 Posted: Tue Nov 20 17:15:39 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 21-Nov-84 19:05:57 EST Organization: AT&T Consumer Products - Montgomery Illinois Lines: 32 qst de k9eui hr propagation forecast bulletin nr 47 from arrl headquarters newington ct november 18, 1984 to all radio amateurs bt the solar flux has been between 69 and 77 since early september. the most recent comparable low came in may, june and the first few days of july 1976. that ten week summer period had much less impact on thu dx scene than the present low which began just as the northern hemisphere was moving into its best month of the year for worldwide dx on the higher frequencies. as for sunspots, the author of these bulletins has never seen the surface of the sun so clean, or for so long, in more than ten years of observation, including the final two years of the previous solar cycle. propagation was fair to poor on all frequencies much of the past week as predicted. during a major geomagnetic storm on the 16th, the geomagnetic a index reached 76, its highest in more than two years. this produced watery and weak signals on all hf bands and a wild aurora delighted the vhf fraternity in the more northerly states. aftereffects of this disturbance may be with us for a day or two, however, much better propagation will move in after about the twenty first. the solar flux is unlikely to go above the middle seventies, so dx opportunities on 21 and 28 mhz will be brief, except for low latitude east west and low latitude north south circuits. american sunspot numbers for november 8 through 15 were between 3 and 19 with a mean of 13.6 ar