‰ NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰ On Wednesday, December 19 Spaceweather.com displayed this headline, Solar minimum conditions are in effect, followed by The Sun has been without sunspots for 209 days in 2018, that is, 59 percent of the time. To find a similar stretch of blank Suns, you have to go back to 2009 when the Sun was experiencing the deepest solar minimum in a century. Looking at my own records, I show the average daily sunspot number for all of 2009 was 5.05, and average daily solar flux was 70.6. Looking at the past two months, October 19 through December 19, the same values were 3.6 and 69.4, so we are clearly down in the same sort of minima. Of course, there are many ways to slice and dice the numbers, so rather than 3.6 and 69.4 from the past two months, looking at all the numbers for 2018 so far, we see averages of 6.6 and 69.9. Average daily sunspot numbers for the past week were 3.4, there were only two days with any visible sunspots, which was down from 9.7 in the previous week. Average daily solar flux declined only slightly from 70.7 to 70.4. Average planetary A index decreased from 8 to 4.1, while average mid latitude A index went from 6.4 to 3. Predicted solar flux for the next 45 days is 70 on December 21 to 23, 72 on December 24, 70 on December 25 to 27, 72 on December 28 through January 4, 70 on January 5 to 16, 72 on January 17 to 31, and 70 on February 1 to 3. Predicted planetary A index is 8, 5 and 5 on December 21 to 23, then 8, 5 and 5 again on December 24 to 26, then 8 on December 27 and 28, then 12, 10 and 8 on December 29 to 31, 5 on January 1 and 2, then 10, 12, 10, 10 and 8 on January 3 to 7, 5 on January 8 to 12, 8 on January 13, 5 on January 14 to 23, then 8, 12, 10 and 8 on January 24 to 27, 5 on January 28 and 29, then 10, 12, 10, 10 and 8 on January 30 through February 3. Hi Jon, so excited just had to share with you. After over 6 to 7 years of trying KE7NR/P in DM54ah and myself completed on 2m MS using MSK144 several days before the Geminid peak date. I had a good feeling when right off the bat I received this plus 20 dB decode from him, 150700 20 20.2 1527 and W8BYA KE7NR DM54 . I ended up with 9 Geminids m/s Qs on 6 meters. All MSK144. Best DX probably W3CP EM74. Some fairly short distance M/S Qs such as KV5W EM22 and K0TPP EM48. Saw decodes on K0WDO EM17, N0LWF EN10, and several on KA9CFD EN40, which are close in and would imply high MUF. I was on early morning Dec. 14. Sunspot numbers were 0, 12, 12, 0, 0, 0, and 0, with a mean of 3.4. 10.7 cm flux was 70.2, 70.8, 71.2, 69.8, 70.1, 70.4, and 70.2, with a mean of 70.4. Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 3, 2, 2, 6, 7, and 6, with a mean of 4.1. Estimated mid latitude A indices were 2, 3, 1, 1, 5, 5, and 4, with a mean of 3. Southern New Jersey will have a new Section Manager starting on January 1. No balloting was necessary in the latest Section Manager election cycle, and eight incumbent SMs will begin new 2 year terms on New Years Day. In Southern New Jersey, current Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Preiser, N2XW, of Manahawkin, was the only candidate by the September 7 nomination deadline. Incumbent Skip Arey, N2EI, of Beverly, decided not to run for another term after serving since January 2015. ‰ END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ