Tad "Who bade the Sun clothe you with rainbows" Cook, K7RA, this week reports:
The past few days have had very stable geomagnetic conditions. After unsettled to active geomagnetic indicators on March 26-28, conditions quieted down dramatically. Combined with the nearly two-week run of sunspots and the spring season, this makes good HF conditions.
There were actually three sunspots, beginning on March 23 with the first one and a sunspot number of 14. March 24 and 25 each brought one new spot; the sunspot number rose to 35 and 52 on those days. Activity peaked between March 26-29 with daily sunspot numbers of 63, 57, 63 and 50. Yesterday, April 3, the sunspot number was back to 14 again, as one-by-one, the three spots drifted from view. Today's sunspot number may be back to zero, and it may stay that way until April 18-20.
Sunspot numbers for March 27 through April 2 were 57, 63, 50, 41, 45, 25 and 24 with a mean of 43.6. The 10.7 cm flux was 84.8, 82.9, 82.6, 80.5, 79.2, 77.8 and 75.9 with a mean of 80.5. Estimated planetary A indices were 31, 21, 8, 8, 4, 4 and 1 with a mean of 11. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 19, 13, 6, 6, 2, 5 and 1, with a mean of 7.4.
For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service Propagation page <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>. To read this week's Solar Report in its entirety, check out the W1AW Propagation Bulletin page <http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/>. This week's "Tad Cookism" brought to you courtesy of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
| Notes | This solar update is brought to you courtesy of the American Radio Relay League's ARRL Letter. |