SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP006

ARLP006 Propagation de K7RA

ZCZC AP06

QST de W1AW

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 6 ARLP006

From Tad Cook, K7RA

Seattle, WA February 8, 2013

To all radio amateurs

SB PROP ARL ARLP006

ARLP006 Propagation de K7RA

Average daily sunspot numbers hardly changed from last week and the

week prior, but average daily solar flux bounced back to about the

level it was from two weeks ago.

Average daily sunspot numbers were down five points to 50.7, and

average daily solar flux was up 7.7 points to 106.4.

Predicted solar flux values are 105 on February 8-10, 110 and 105 on

February 11-12, 100 on February 13-14, 110, 115 and 110 on February

15-17, 115 on February 18-19, 110 on February 20-21, 105 on February

22, 115 on February 23-24, then 110, 105 and 100 on February 25-27,

95 on February 28 through March 2, 115 on March 3-4, 120 on March

5-6, and 125 on March 7-8.

The predicted planetary A index is 22, 15 and 10 on February 8-10, 5

on February 11-18, 8 on February 19, 5 on February 20-21, then 15,

10 and 8 on February 22-24, 5 on February 25-28, 10 and 8 on March

1-2, 5 on March 3-7, and 8 on March 8-9.

OK1HH says geomagnetic activity should be quiet to unsettled on

February 8, quiet to active February 9-10, quiet to unsettled

February 11-12, quiet to active February 13-14, quiet to February

15-16, quiet February 17-21, active to disturbed February 22-23,

quiet to unsettled February 24-25, quiet on February 26-27, mostly

quiet February 28, quiet to active March 1, quiet to unsettled March

2, and mostly quiet on March 3.

I've been looking at the predictions for planetary A index and solar

flux, and it is interesting to note how they change over time. The

planetary A index prediction for February 3 for over a month was a

value of 5, until January 31, when it changed to 18. Then on

February 1 it was 15, and the same on February 2. But on February

3, the actual value was 4. A similar thing happened with the

February 4 prediction. It was 5 up until January 31, when it changed

to 15, then for March 1 and 2 it was 12, then it changed back to 15

on March 3. The following day, March 4, the actual value was 4

again, just as it was the day earlier.

On February 7 the planetary A index prediction for February 8 is 22,

and on February 6 the prediction for February 8 was 8. Prior to

that it was 5. We will see the actual value at the end of the day

today, February 8.

We heard from Fabrizio Valdirosa, a shortwave listener in Italy, who

inquired about the average sunspot number for all of 2011. We

mentioned recently that it was 29.9, but Fabrizio thought this was

too low while looking at the monthly averages at,

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/weekly/RecentIndices.txt.

I recalculated by again totaling all of the daily sunspot numbers

for 2011, which is 29,239. Divide that by 365 days, and we get an

average daily sunspot number for that year of 80.1. I have no idea

how 29.9 was previously calculated, except that I somehow came up

with a total for the year of 10,913 instead of 29,239 and it was my

own error. So the average yearly sunspot numbers for 2008-2012 were

4.7, 5.1, 25.5, 80.1 and 82.3.

Don Street, HS0ZEE wrote to ask about seasonal variations mentioned

in the bulletin, and asked, "Here in Asia, Spring and Fall are not

so well defined, perhaps for reader like me it would be helpful to

mention which month you refer to." We are just referring to the

seasons as the time between Equinox and Solstice, Solstice to

Equinox, etc. This page gives the dates for the seasonal changes:

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/longest-day/equinox-solstice-2010-2019.htm.

Don also likes the HAP charts for HF propagation produced by the

Australian government and notes, "I find the charts near to actual

band conditions. Unfortunately they are based on the previous hours

observed conditions, but still very useful."

Here is the link Don refers to:

http://www.ips.gov.au/HF_Systems/6/6/1.

Bill Bliss, W1WBB of Portsmouth, Rhode Island wrote: "Don't believe

I've seen these two new forecast products from the SWPC mentioned in

your weekly column, found via link on their home page:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/index.html

"They are issued twice daily and I've found them helpful as an

additional tool for predicting near-term propagation on the HF/MF

amateur bands. Links for feedback on both the 3-Day Forecast and

the Forecast Discussion are also provided. Positive feedback on

these 'experimental' products from the amateur community (accepted

up through Feb. 12) may help ensure they become a permanent part of

SWPC's Data and Products area."

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 web page at

http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For an explanation of the

numbers used in this bulletin, see

http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere. An archive of past

propagation bulletins is at

http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation. Find more good

information and tutorials on propagation at

http://myplace.frontier.com/~k9la/.

Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve

overseas locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation.

Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL

bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins.

Sunspot numbers for January 31 through February 6 were 47, 65, 54,

79, 30, 41, and 39, with a mean of 50.7. 10.7 cm flux was 102.7,

103.7, 111.8, 111.1, 106.7, 105.1, and 103.5, with a mean of 106.4.

Estimated planetary A indices were 1, 4, 9, 4, 4, 2, and 2, with a

mean of 3.7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 1, 4, 9, 6, 3, 2,

and 2, with a mean of 3.9.

NNNN

/EX