‰ NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰ Weve seen many days with no sunspots over the past year, especially in more recent times. Periods with more than three days of blank Sun include January 4 to 11, 2017, March 6 to 20, 2017, May 9 to 15, 2017, June 9 to 12, July 18 to 24, October 8 to 14, October 16 to 20, November 1 to 13, November 19 to 24, December 1 to 5, December 13 to 19, December 28, 2017 through January 3, 2018, January 20 to 29, 2018, and February 18 to 25. Sunspots have been visible every day, starting on February 26. This reporting week, February 22 to 28, the average daily sunspot number was 6, up slightly from 5.6 over the previous seven days. Average daily solar flux declined from 70.1 to 68.3. Average planetary A index, a geomagnetic indicator calculated from values measured at multiple magnetometers around the world, rose marginally from 10 to 10.4, and mid latitude A index which is measured by a single magnetometer on Wallops Island, Virginia changed from 7.7 to 7.4. All of these values are moderate, or quiet. The most active day was February 27, when planetary A index was 19 and the mid latitude A index was 14. Spaceweather.com reports that Earth is exiting a solar wind stream which produced brief G 1 class geomagnetic storms, see February 27 in the previous paragraph. NOAA says, according to Spaceweather.com, that the chance of additional storms is 25 percent on March 1, declining to 15 percent on March 2. A new solar wind could appear on March 3. How does this prediction figure from other sources? From the NOAA 45 day forecast on March 1, predicted planetary A index is 7 on March 2, 5 on March 3 to 5, 8 on March 6, 5 on March 7 to 13, then 10, 8, 12, 15 and 18 on March 14 to 18. Then 5 on March 19 and 20, then 12, 15, 10, 8, 24, and 12 on March 21 to 26, then 5 on March 27 through April 9, then 10, 8, 12, 15 and 18 on April 10 to 14 and 5 on April 15. So if any solar wind appears by March 3, the only correlation with the NOAA 45 day forecast would be the brief rise in planetary A index to 8 on March 6. You can read daily updates of the NOAA forecast every afternoon, USA time at, //ftp.swpc.noaa.gov/pub/forecasts/45DF/ . Predicted solar flux from the same 45 day forecast is 68 and 70 on March 2 and 3, and 72 on March 4 to 8, then 73, 75, 76, 77, 75, 72, and 70 on March 9 to 15, 68 on March 16 to 26, then 70 and 75 on March 27 and 28, then 78 on March 29 through April 8, then 75, 72 and 70 on April 9 to 11, and 68 on April 12 to 15. For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service web page. A detailed explanation of numbers used in this bulletin is also available on this site. An archive of past propagation bulletins is also available. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations can be found on the ARRL/Propagation web page. Find better information and tutorials on propagation on the K9LA web site. Sunspot numbers were 0, 0, 0, 0, 16, 15, and 11, with a mean of 6. 10.7 cm flux was 68.4, 67.6, 68.2, 67.2, 69.8, 67.9, and 68.8, with a mean of 68.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 11, 16, 9, 4, 7, 19, and 7, with a mean of 10.4. Estimated mid latitude A indices were 9, 11, 6, 2, 6, 14, and 4, with a mean of 7.4. ‰ END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ