I seem to remember reading that activity always rises faster than it tails off (over the course of the entire cycle).
73
05:37 Utc
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05:51 Utc
05:10 Utc
We have moderate solar activity already - and today we had the largest solar flare in over 3 years! The flare was behind the east limb, and much of the X-ray energy was blocked - and we still had an M4.4 flare! It appears that the flare was likely a Class X flare.
Large classic coronal loops were visible for many hours after the flare, and the slow decay of the x-rays was characteristic of a large flare.
In a day or two, more of the active region will move into view, and perhaps weāll have more energetic activity. The solar flux has risen to 116, so weāll probably see more interesting propagation for a while.
This is not the quiet sun that weāve had for several years. The bands are NOT DEAD!
73
George
KX0R
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Well I certainly found Sunday to be a lot better prop wise on the 10m band than Saturday was. USA on Saturday was in for for for around 15 mins yet on Sunday USA was in and out to different parts for a good two hours and reaching further west into IL. It was also wide open for a good hour or so to eastern EU on the Sunday morning but not Saturday, so I was not just hearing the bigger guns like I was on the Saturday. The good days for ham radio on the higher bands are coming again!
73 Phil
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Iām late today 
06:06 Utc
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06:55 Utc
05:01 Utc
Sunspot number is 326. How do they fit all those in such a small space? If it was acne, theyād send it in for a dermabrasion and temporarily replace it with a loaner.
Elliott, K6EL
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Thatās amazing! And the solar flux was 303 today! I canāt remember ever seeing it that high. And still no great DX. Sort of disappointing,
(unless youāre on FT8, UGH). Letās see those gauges that were on earlier messages now.
73,
John, K6YK
Yup. Over 309. But in 1958 it peaked at 930!
Now I know why the 10 m band to South Africa although quite good now just does not compare to 1958.
It was not possible to tell 15 m from 20 m by the range and strength of the DX. 10 m was just as loud but more selective in geographical station positions.
However itās not done yet.
One Guru is predicting World W DX on 6 m in October.
Iāll believe it after Iāve worked the UK on 6 m.
73
Ron
VK3AFW.
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Hi! My first post here.
As a new HAM (got my license in last year) and living first āfullā HF summer here in Finland, Iāve been puzzled with the saying that solar spot maximum is the best time for HAM operators.
The propagation has been quite bad because of of course sun scorching daily (D layer) - that degrades propagation and increases noise. This I understand of course.
But then these constant flares because of high sun spot count. They were supposed to help? I think the propagation has been bad for few months already. How sun spots would help as they cause constant flares that stir up the ionosphere. They were supposed to increase flux - which is quite high, but still - DXāing is very difficult or impossible.
Correct me if Iām wrong about bad propagation in last few months - Iām quite a beginner so I have limited view on this.
72s!
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Iāll be listening for you!
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Iāve been licensed 17 years now, and before that I was an occasional SWL. The best receptions I ever had were in 1967/68 (Solar Cycle 20), when I could hear Easter Island from the UK on an old tube radio using a wet piece of spaghetti as an antenna.
As to this year, Iād have to agree with you - the conditions, as far as Iāve seen here in DE, have been fair to bad to terrible, depending as you say on solar CMEs and other solar outbursts. Iāve been disappointed and a little disillusioned on several occasions when I went up a SOTA summit and got maybe a handful of QSOs out to 1500km or so on 40m and 20m. And donāt talk to me about the 10-meter challenge - I gave up with that when 10 meters steadfastly refused to play.
Maybe the next solar maximum will turn out to be better for you and the rest of ham-dom - Iāll probably be too old to catch that one.
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Hi Rob,
Well conditions at the moment are much better than 6 years ago. The problem with higher sunspots is the increased likelihood of flares and high energy particle ejections causing blackouts. Maybe good for Auroras and associated propagation but for HF not so much.
This afternoon on 10 m I had one QSO with G, one F, one I, a couple of Ukrainians and a couple of Japanese. Quite a few stations called but then they vanished, not to appear again. So the ionosphere is in turmoil and causing the path to be open and then closed fairly quickly only to open somewhere else and so it went.
I was beaming LP and using FT8.
Interesting times.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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The summer is never the best time for DX, this summer seems worse than usual - I guess that the high solar activity has made D-layer absorption stronger than usual. It may well be the reason for a poor sporadic E season on 10m, too. Come the Autumn we may well see some fabulous conditions on the higher bands but the converse is true, too - the lower bands arenāt at their best at sunspot maximum. The trouble is (and always has been) that high sunspot counts mean more SIDs and more geomagnetic storms to break up the good conditions.
My first experience of ham radio was during the maximum of cycle 19 around 1958, which I was observing with a small telescope: I found hams on Top Band by accident while playing with a one tube radio I had built from a kit, and after finding out what I was hearing I found that my parents radio covered 20m and 15m, I never heard much of interest on 20m but on 15m during the day South American stations were booming in on AM phone - except that on some days they werenāt, and the bands were quiet. I learned that this tied in with the activity of the sunspots that I was observing, and I got hooked on solar-terrestrial relations. Thatās a long time ago, and there has never been another maximum like that one, but what I learned then has stayed true: propagation at maximum is great except when it is rubbish, and its all part of that intriguing Earth-Sun machine.
There were days in March and April when conditions were incredible on 10m SSB, with literally the whole world booming in as if they were local, and even round the world echoes making copy difficult, and I think the best is yet to come. Its a pity that the urban noise has never been as bad as it is now!
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My simplistic understanding thinks this is plausible. And according to predictions weāre still not at the top!
Here is todayās latest D layer absorption data
And here is one from the same period (roughly mid August) 2014 at the last maximum.
I donāt recall there being so many flares last time and certainly not days when there were 4 or 5 flares.
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Yup, as I wrote I donāt have reference. Maybe my expectations from āsunspot maximumā are a bit too high. And as the summer passes, this are even better.
OK, this give me more light on this topic. Iāve been on lower bands too much - glad I build QMX for a bit higher bands. Maybe it will come to real use in autumn! Excited about if that happens.
Well said! I need to use this one.
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