‰  NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰

Still no sunspots through all of February, except for the first day
of the month. I keep watching for possible sunspot activity over the
solar horizon on, //stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . Recently I noticed a
promising looking white area, and in the past few days at
Spaceweather.com they pointed out two new regions just over the
horizon.  As of Thursday night, both areas still appear to be
transitioning over the horizon at minus 90 degrees shown on the
STEREO monitor at the above URL. But so far nothing in the daily 45
day forecast of solar flux shows any associated increase related to
this.  Average daily solar flux changed slightly from 70.9 to 70.5
over the recent week, and geomagnetic indicators remained quiet.
Predicted solar flux over the next 45 days is 70 on February 28
through March 3, and 71 on March 4 through April 12.  Predicted
planetary A index is 5 on February 28 through March 3, then 12, 12
and 8 on March 4 to 6, 5 on March 7 to 14, then 10, 8, 10, 8, 5, 10
and 8 on March 15 to 21, then 5, 8, 12 and 10 on March 22 to 25, 5
on March 26 to 30, then 20, 15 and 8 on March 31 through April 2,
then 5 on April 3 to 12.  An interesting article about the
Kodaikanal observatory in India with some nice butterfly diagrams
and charts of daily sunspot area is available online.  Next weekend
the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico hosts an open
house.  Information is available online.  Mike Schaffer, KA3JAW in
Easton, PA monitors 11 meters for evidence of sporadic E skip. On
Monday, February 24 he reports, Sporadic E lasted for nearly three
hours, at 958 am, or 1458 UTC, to 1249 pm, or 1749 UTC.  At first,
stations were coming from the west with the states IL, IN, OH.
Chicago, IL at 650 air miles being the furthest.  Half way into the
activity, around 1133 am, or 1633 UTC, sporadic E changed directions
toward the south with the states MS, FL, GA, TN, KY received.
Jackson, MS at 1013 air miles being the furthest.  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 website.  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.  The multiple websites mentioned in this bulletin can be found
in teleprinter, packet, and Internet versions of 2020 Propagation
Forecast Bulletin ARLP009.  Sunspot numbers were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
and 0, with a mean of 0. 10.7 cm flux was 70.8, 71.2, 70.2, 70.1,
70.2, 70.6, and 70.1, with a mean of 70.5. Estimated planetary A
indices were 8, 14, 9, 5, 4, 3, and 4, with a mean of 6.7. Middle
latitude A index was 5, 10, 7, 4, 3, 3, and 3, with a mean of 5.

‰  END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ