(C) American Radio Relay League.
Author Name: ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.
This information was originally published on arrl.org. [1]
It appears here by permission of ARRL.


The K7RA

2022-05

www.spaceweather.com reported on May 4 at 0859 UTC that an M5 solar flare erupted from sunspot group AR3004, causing a shortwave radio

blackout over the Middle East and Africa.



Please see https://bit.ly/3vKzelk



A recent flare update:



https://bit.ly/3OXvuo8



Solar activity was lower this week, even though we could see

sunspots every day.



Average daily sunspot numbers dropped from 109.3 to 68.6, while

average daily solar flux went from 156 to 120.



Average daily geomagnetic indices were only slightly higher, with

average planetary A index changing from 9.1 to 10.7, and middle

latitude A index from 8 to 9.3.



Predicted solar flux looks low for the next month, even dipping

below 100 in early June. In fact, from Wednesday to Thursday the

predicted solar flux for the first week of the forecast dropped

dramatically.



For a comparison, see this week's ARRL Letter at,

http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2022-05-05 .



Predicted values are 118 on May 6-8, then 115, 110 and 112 on May

9-11, then 115, 115 and 120 on May 12-14, 125 on May 15-18, 127 on

May 19-20, then 130, 128, 125, and 122 on May 21-24, 118 on May

25-26, then 114 and 110 on May 27-28, 105 on May 29-31, then 102 and

100 on June 1-2, 97 on June 3-5, then 99, 102 and 108 on June 6-8,

then 115 on June 9, 120 on June 10, and 125 on June 11-14.



Predicted planetary A index is 5 on May 6, 8 on May 7-8, 5 on May

9-12, then 8, 10 and 8 on May 13-15, 5 on May 16-19, then 12 and 8

on May 20-21, 5 on May 22-23, 18 on May 24, 15 on May 25-27, then 8,

15 and 8 on May 28-30, then 5 on May 31 through June 8, then 8, 1,

and 8 on June 9-11.



These predictions are from forecasters Housseal and Dethlefsen of

the USAF 557th Weather Wing.



Recent flare activity in the news:



https://bit.ly/39vn8Uq



https://bit.ly/38YBfRO



https://bit.ly/3P0IfOX



https://bit.ly/3ydNeFM



https://bit.ly/3FhULFc



Thanks to KA3JAW for this story:



https://bit.ly/3kLmchd



Weekly Commentary on the Sun, the Magnetosphere, and the Earth's

Ionosphere from OK1HH:



"We have seen more of large solar flares this year, but it was

usually by night in Europe. On April 30, the first major flare

finally occurred during the day, thanks to which we were able to

observe the ShortWave Fadeout (SWF) in the western part of the Old

World. Solar X-rays caused abnormally high ionization in the

ionospheric D region, where attenuation increased significantly. Our

shortwave receivers fell silent at 1337 UTC.



"The solar flare peaked at 1347 UTC, ending at 1352 UTC. Only then

could the attenuation in the ionospheric D region begin to decline

and signals other than those coming via ground wave gradually

appeared. Solar activity began to rise again mainly due to active

area No. 3004, which emerged on May 2, and grew rapidly.



"Its magnetic structure became more complex with increased energy,

with significant eruptions up to several times a day. In addition,

they were often accompanied by type IV radio noise bursts, which

indicated that the solar plasma cloud had left the Sun. As Group

3004 is now facing approximately toward us, we can expect at least

one of the clouds to hit Earth, causing a disturbance. Perhaps we

will see further improvement in the shortwave propagation

conditions, during the possible positive phase of its development."



KA3JAW sent this report about signals heard on the 8 meter band:



"On Saturday, April 30, 2022, between 1607-1632 UTC I received

WM2XEJ in Grid Square EM82 calling CQ using digital mode FT8 on the

experimental 8-meter (40 MHz) band via short-haul sporadic-E.

Distance was 670 miles (1078 km), with an azimuth of 220 degrees.



"The 8-meter experimental band is within the worldwide

Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) segment between 40.660 to 40.700

MHz with a 40 kHz bandwidth, center frequency on 40.680.



"Licensed users are Fixed, Mobile and Earth exploration-satellite

service.



"WM2XEJ is an FCC Part 5 Experimental Radio Service station operated

by Tom Mills, WB4JWM in Eatonton, Georgia. Tom is authorized to

operate at 400 watts of Effective Radiated Power (ERP) using CW,

SSB, digital modes FT4, FT8, WSPR, and Q65.



"Tom uses an Icom IC-9100 rig into a vertical loop antenna giving

about 300 watts of ERP."



Amateur radio has 8 meter allocations in the UK, Slovenia, Denmark,

and South Africa.



Here is a blog devoted to 8 meters:



https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/p/40-mhz.html .



If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers,

please email the author at, [email protected] .



For more information concerning shortwave radio propagation, see

http://www.arrl.org/propagation and the ARRL Technical Information

Service web page at, http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For

an explanation of 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. More good

information and tutorials on propagation are at http://k9la.us/.



Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL

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



Sunspot numbers for April 28 through May 4, 2022 were 118, 90, 50,

36, 69, 53, and 64, with a mean of 68.6. 10.7 cm flux was 132.2,

123.5, 119.7, 109, 111.9, 113.8, and 130.1, with a mean of 120.

Estimated planetary A indices were 14, 15, 18, 9, 6, 7, and 6, with

a mean of 10.7. Middle latitude A index was 11, 10, 16, 9, 6, 7, and

6, with a mean of 9.3.
[END]

[1] URL: https://www.arrl.org/news/the-k7ra-solar-update-727
[2] URL: https://www.arrl.org/copyright

Arrl Letter via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/arrl/letter

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.