SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP028 ARLP028 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP28 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 28 ARLP028 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA July 14, 2006 To all radio amateurs SB PROP ARL ARLP028 ARLP028 Propagation de K7RA Sunspot numbers and solar flux declined this week. Average daily sunspot numbers dropped 10 points to 25.6, and average solar flux was down nearly 11 points. There were no remarkable geomagnetic disturbances. July 9 saw a weak solar wind from a coronal mass ejection, followed by another period two days later, but every day the IMF pointed north, protecting Earth's geomagnetic field. The latest forecast calls for solar flux around 70 over the next week, lower than it has been lately. Sunspot numbers should also be low. Predicted planetary A index for July 14 is 8, and then 5 for the next week. Eric Hall, K9GY of Lansing, Illinois reminds 6-meter operators (or anyone with a 6-meter radio for that matter) to operate the CQ World Wide VHF Contest this weekend. Six meters continues to amaze. July 12 saw great openings, with European stations working North America. A check of 6-meter DX spots for the previous 36 hours on July 13 at http://www.dxers.info/ showed several thousand entries over a 24-hour period. EH8BPX in Canary Islands showed up 35 times in 36 hours, entries either from or about him. He seemed to work many stations on the East Coast and in the Midwest. If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers, email the author at, k7raarrl.net. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. For a detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html. An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/ . Sunspot numbers for July 6 through 12 were 34, 35, 34, 33, 18, 13 and 12 with a mean of 25.6. 10.7 cm flux was 85, 79.9, 77.4, 74.6, 72.8, 71.2, and 70.6, with a mean of 75.9. Estimated planetary A indices were 11, 6, 3, 5, 11, 7 and 12 with a mean of 7.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 7, 5, 2, 5, 12, 5 and 9, with a mean of 6.4. NNNN /EX