‰ Now 18 WPM transition file follows ‰

W1AW to QSY on 160 Meters.  Starting Monday, March 9, Maxim Memorial
Station W1AW will be using a new 160 meter frequency for its CW
transmissions.  To accommodate increasing activity near the current
bulletin frequency of 1817R5 kHz, W1AW will move to 1802R5 kHz to
reduce the possibility of interference.  Still no hint of sunspots
or sunspots to come.  We did see some geomagnetic activity on
February 4 from a possible coronal mass ejection.  This raised the
planetary A index to 16 that day.  Current prediction is for quiet
conditions.  Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions
for February 6 to 12.  NOAA and USAF predict quiet geomagnetic
conditions with planetary A index at 5, but it jumps to 8 on
February 15, then back to 5 until February 22 to 24, which has a
predicted planetary A index of 10, 8 and 8.  While we dont see much
excitement at the high end of the HF spectrum, the quiet conditions
and winter nights are great for the lower frequencies.  There were
many comments on the fascinating several decades old letter from Ed
Tilton, W1HDQ, the editor of this bulletin until 1991.  Ive never
learned when this bulletin began, and if Ed always wrote it.  Jim
Muiter, N6TP of San Mateo, California commented on the W1HDQ letter.
Jim wrote, Eds letter pointed out there are many layers to ten meter
propagation and the selection of the date for the ten meter contest
was no accident. The three hundred mile path makes good sense. I
believe the British Chain Home Radar system of Battle of Britain
fame used frequencies in that range, perhaps 30 to 50 MHz. In effect
it was partially an over the horizon radar and may have relied on
tropo inadvertently.  A new month began since the last bulletin, so
we can calculate another 3 month average of daily sunspot numbers.
This new one will be centered on December 2008, and includes data
from November 1 2008 through January 31 2009.  We were of course
hoping for an uptick, but the new average is 3R7, lower than the
previous average of 4R4.  The monthly averages mentioned in this
bulletin can be found in teleprinter and packet versions of
Propagation Forecast Bulletin ARLP006.  Bill Van Alstyne, W5WVO of
Rio Rancho, New Mexico had some information and comments after this
bulletin mentioned some weak signal methods for VHF.  Bill said the
web site we mentioned deals with some European practice in Region 1.
Stations in North America, Region 2, use different protocols.  He
writes, The Region 2 protocols are the default settings in the WSJT
software as it is downloaded from Joe Taylors website.  Please,
download the manual as well as the software.  Bill continues, JT6M
is only one of the transmission modes contained within the WSJT
suite intended for meteor scatter work.  The original MS mode,
FSK441, remains the primary mode used for MS in North America. Of
course JT6M will often work, but as stated in the web page, you need
a decodable burst of at least one second duration. While it is much
more likely to get pings this long on 6 meters than on higher
frequency bands, it is likewise true that most 6 meter meteor pings
are shorter than that, and hence wont contain a full message. Using
FSK441, a full message can be transmitted and decoded in as little
as 150 ms.  Sunspot numbers were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a mean
of 0.  10R7 cm flux was 69R3, 69R1, 69R4, 69R5, 69R1, 69R3, and 69R5
with a mean of 69R3.  Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 4, 7, 3,
2, 4 and 16 with a mean of 5R7.  Estimated mid latitude A indices
were 3, 3, 4, 1, 0, 2 and 10 with a mean of 3R3‚

‰ End of 18 WPM transition file ‰