‰ Now 18 WPM transition file follows ‰

We had seven days of no sunspots this week, but a sunspot was
emerging on Thursday, June 5.  Helioseismic holography revealed a
high latitude sunspot on the opposite side of the Sun.  Until
recently, we had no idea what was happening on the far side of the
Sun, the side directed away from earth.  Go to the spaceweather.com
and solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/Helioseismology.shtml websites for
more information on helioseismology.  Sorry about my mix up last
week, which some readers saw in some versions of the bulletin
regarding Labor Day.  No, it is not celebrated in May.  If you didnt
see it, then you read a version edited by the very capable and wide
awake staff at ARRL HQ.  As promised last week, an update to the
three month moving averages of sunspot numbers is now available.
These numbers can be found in teleprinter and packet versions of
Propagation Forecast Bulletin ARLP024.  I was able to calculate the
value for April because we have all the data for March, April and
May.  The total of all daily sunspot numbers for those three months
was 818.  Divide that value by 92 days gives us approximately 8R891
as the average.  Note the average sunspot number has increased only
slightly since last Fall.  Jeff Lackey, K8CQ of St. Simons Island,
Georgia noted that in the table of zero sunspot days presented last
week, there was at least one error.  They counted as 36 days the
period from May 27 to July 31, 1996.  You can look at the whole
website, not just the page we linked to last week.  Jeff checked
data in the table against an archive of sunspot data.  He found that
the 66 days they reported as 36 days were actually over two periods,
but neither was over 20 days.  Jeff wrote, Indeed, the run that
ended on 31 July began on 8 July, thus it was a 14 day run.  The
beginning date of 27 May was for a run that ended on 7 June.
Between 7 June and 8 July, the sunspot numbers were all non zero.
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center sees a constant and quiet
geomagnetic planetary A index of 5 through June 14.  Geophysical
Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions for June 6, quiet to
unsettled June 7 and 8, and quiet again June 9 to 12.  Sunspot
numbers for May 29 through June 4 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a
mean of 0.  10R7 cm flux was 68R1, 67R1, 66R9, 66R6, 67R1, 66R3, and
65R2 with a mean of 66R8.  Estimated planetary A indices were 9, 11,
8, 8, 5, 4 and 4 with a mean of 7.  Estimated mid latitude A indices
were 7, 7, 8, 6, 4, 3 and 2, with a mean of 5R3‚

‰ End of 18 WPM transition file ‰