‰  NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰

Sunspots vanished again after appearing on every day, from May 21
through June 4.  Average daily sunspot numbers this week, May 31
through June 6, dropped from 26.3 to 12.9.  Average daily solar flux
declined from 74.9 to 73.2.  Average planetary A index increased
from 3.9 to 11.7 while average mid latitude A index increased from
4.7 to 10.4.  Predicted solar flux is 69 on June 8 to 10, 70 on June
11 to 14, 72 on June 15 to 17, 74 on June 18 to 23, 72 on June 24 to
30, 73 and 72 on July 1 and 2, 70 on July 3 to 7, 72 on July 8 to
14, 74 on July 15 to 20 and 72 on July 21 and 22.  Predicted
planetary A index is 5 on June 8 to 12, 8 on June 13, 5 on June 14
to 18, 8 on June 19, 5 on June 20 to 26, then 15, 28 and 18 on June
27 to 29, 10 on June 30 through July 1, 8 on July 2, 5 on July 3 to
9, 8 on July 10, 5 on July 11 to 15, 8 on July 16, and 5 on July 17
to 22.  Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is coming up in
less than two weeks, on Thursday, June 21, just before ARRL Field
Day weekend.  Around this time of year we may see sporadic E
propagation on ten meters, and sometimes on six meters.  Check this
site devoted to ten meter sporadic E,
//www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/spore.html June 23 and 24 is Field Day
weekend.  Predicted solar flux of 74 and 72 looks promising, and the
planetary A index prediction of 5 for both days is excellent.
Previously the planetary A index was predicted at 8 for Sunday, and
5 is better.  Bill Mader, K8TE, president of the Albuquerque DX
Association wrote, I hope you and Dr. Skov can educate folks about
HF communications on the planet Mars.  Although Mars atmosphere is
approximately 0.6 per cent of Earths, there are sufficient atoms to
provide an ionosphere according to some scientists.  Long ago, I
gave a presentation to a middle school class on this very subject.
This is before the scientific community knew about Mars complicated
atmosphere, much less its ionosphere.  I suggest satellite
communications would be necessary between explorers on Mars surface.
It may well be you will eventually need to provide HF propagation
predictions for hams on Mars.  VK5EEE wrote, regarding a recent
inquiry on HF beacons, Beacons on bands other than 10m on HF, 28200
to 28300 kHz, are discouraged by the IARU, however, there are a few
exceptions that have been approved and many unapproved beacons.  The
most famous and useful is DK0WCY.  The German website with a few
pages in English, has a wealth of information.  I have also
corresponded with DDK9, the German RTTY WX station on 30m and
obtained information about that station too.  To make it easy for
hams, I have put together pages that make it easy to find what you
need about these.  Please take a look, //www.30cw.net/dk0wcy and
//www.30cw.net/ddk9 A very fun beacon is IY4M that is licensed just
below the 10m exclusive beacon band, 28200 to 28300, on 28195, and
also on 12m.  It is extremely hard to find information about this
beacon, which is sad, as it is an amazing work.  You can QSO with
the beacon in CW and it is very friendly and upbeat, you give it
various commands, such as to speed up, slow down, send this or that
info, etc.  I used to love having regular QSOs with it from Europe
especially during Sporadic E seasons.  Sunspot numbers were 21, 22,
20, 16, 11, 0, and 0, with a mean of 12.9.  10.7 cm flux was 76.8,
74.8, 74.4, 73.6, 70.5, 71.3, and 71.1, with a mean of 73.2.
Estimated planetary A indices were 12, 26, 17, 9, 5, 6, and 7, with
a mean of 11.7.  Estimated mid latitude A indices were 11, 19, 14,
9, 5, 6, and 9, with a mean of 10.4.

‰  END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ