Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP

Propagation Report from Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP

21 February, 2010

Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP,
reports that there were 772 days without sunspots since 2004. Typically there are only 485 days without sunspots during a solar minimum. We indeed experienced a long and deep solar minimum.

During 2010 there were up to now only 2 days without sunspots. The solar activity is still at low levels. Currently sunspot 1 049 is doing its bit for solar activity, although it is only a small sunspot. The effective sunspot number is expected to be around twenty for the coming week.

20 and 15 m will provide the best opportunities for DX. Conditions to India will be good from the afternoons onwards. During the late afternoons and early evenings it will be moderate towards Europa. In the afternoons there are good possibilities for contacts with the USA on 15 m. Contacts with Australia will be possible on 20 m for a short while during the mornings. During the afternoons and evenings 20 and 15 m contacts may also be possible with Brazil.

Local conditions are going to be good on 40 m during the day time. 80 m may perform well during the early mornings and late afternoons over the shorter distances. 30 m will perform well during the middle of the day. With summer here 20 m is also once again very useful for contacts over the longer distances, especially up to two o'clock in the afternoons.

80 m is the frequency of choice in the evenings

Please visit www.spaceweather.co.za for further information.

South African Radio League

• All propagation reports can be found at:
http://www.southgatearc.org/propagation