XPost: rec.radio.amateur.moderated

EI7GL....A diary of amateur radio activity

///////////////////////////////////////////
Opening on 28 MHz as the solar flux increases - 8th Sept 2021

Posted: 08 Sep 2021 11:19 PM PDT https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2021/09/opening-on-28-mhz-as-solar-flux.html

Now that we are in the month of September, the number of Sporadic-E
openings on the 28 MHz band drop away but they can still be there at times.
The big change as we head towards the equinox is the appearance of long distance F2 and TEP signals on the 10m band.

The map of FT8 signals heard on the 28 MHz band on Wednesday the 8th of September 2021 bears this out. There were relatively few Sporadic-E signals from around Europe but there were some nice DX signals coming through.
While normally DX signals on 28 MHz are often buried in the noise, I could actually hear the signal from 5B4AMX in Cyprus by ear. I had no doubt that
this was via F2 propagation and not some sort of double hop Sporadic-E. Interesting to see that FR4NT on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean also
made it through.
In the evening, FT8 signals from South America and the Caribbean were
decoded. J69DS on St Lucia was there until 22:05 UTC which is about 3 hours after my sunset.
Rising Solar Flux... On the 8th of September, the Solar Flux was at 100
which was well above the 73 of a month ago. The chart below shows how the
Solar Flux is increasing while we are coming out of the low point of the sunspot cycle.

Back in Sept of 2019, we were in the high 60's. By Sept 2020, it was in the
low 70's. We'll have to wait and see what the average is for Sept 2021 but
the fact it is up around 100 now is a sure sign of more activity on the sun. It's very likely that the last few months of 2021 will be pretty good on 28
MHz for those using FT8 and chasing DX. And if 28 MHz is open, the lower HF bands will be open as well.
The main thing to remember is that it's only September and it's only
starting. Expect to see a lot of activity on the band between now and the
end of the year.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)