‰ NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰ WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, in Miami, will be on the air for the annual station test on Saturday, May 26, from 1300 until 2100 UTC. This will be the stations 38th year of public service at the NHC. The purpose of the annual event is to test Amateur Radio station equipment, antennas, and computers in advance of the Atlantic Hurricane season that runs from June 1 through November 30. This event is good practice for ham radio operators worldwide as well as for National Weather Service, NWS, staff to become familiar with the Amateur Radio communications available during times of severe weather, said WX4NHC Assistant Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R. We will be making brief contacts on many frequencies and modes, exchanging signal reports and basic weather data exchange, such as sunny, rain, etc., with any station in any location. WX4NHC will be on the air on HF, VHF, UHF, 2 and 30 meter APRS, and WinLink. The subject line must contain //WL2K. The Hurricane Watch Net frequency of 14.325 MHz will be primary for WX4NHC. Operation also will take place on the VoIP Hurricane Net from 2000 to 2100 UTC on IRLP node 9219 and EchoLink WX TALK Conference node 7203. Florida Statewide SARNET and local VHF and UHF repeaters will be contacted. But some have suggested that perhaps the decline is currently faster than anticipated. I like to imagine a sooner minima could precede a faster rise in the next cycle. What if the upcoming Cycle 25 echoes Cycle 19? Sorry, no scientific evidence, but I like to dream this could happen. Cycle 19 was the largest in recorded history, and I would be glad to see another one, just so it isnt accompanied by a Carrington Event. The Carrington Event happened in September 1859 and produced solar flares so powerful that telegraph offices, connected by long lines acting as antennas, caught fire. But the peak of Cycle 19 happened about 100 years later. According to the weekly report on www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly, on page 11, smoothed solar flux numbers around 63 are predicted toward the end of 2019. But when we observe numbers around the last solar minimum, right now I am looking at the 109 days ending on October 9, 2008 as an example, there were numerous consecutive periods of no sunspots, average daily sunspot number during that time was only 1.046, but average daily solar flux was 66.4, several points higher than values predicted for the end of 2019. These long term predictions are updated about every four weeks, but I have no idea when predictions for 2020 will appear. 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, 13, 14, 14, 14, 25, and 22, with a mean of 14.6. 10.7 cm flux was 66.5, 67.8, 67.6, 67.2, 69.6, 69.6, and 69.6, with a mean of 68.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 4, 20, 31, 17, 14, and 16, with a mean of 15.1. Estimated mid latitude A indices were 3, 4, 12, 24, 14, 12, and 13, with a mean of 11.7. ‰ END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ