‰ Now 18 WPM transition file follows‰

One thing nice about the bottom of the solar cycle is disruptive
radio blackouts or sudden ionospheric events are very unlikely,
compared to times when the solar cycle is active. A couple of
decades back I was at a club Field Day site when mid day Saturday a
solar flare made the bands suddenly so dead that we really thought
our radios were broken. W7RM had just placed a 40 meter bobtail
curtain aimed toward the East Coast over a saltwater path, and I was
convinced it was all for naught. But shortly after, again we heard
signals, and toward the evening K7HBN hooked up to the bobtail and
worked an amazing number of CW stations all night long. Very low
geomagnetic activity is predicted this time around, with the
planetary A index forecast around 5. Sunspot counts for the past
five days have been 23, 21, 20, 19 and 0. No substantial increase is
predicted. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions
June 23, 24 and 27, quiet to unsettled June 25 and 29, and unsettled
June 26 and 28. Ive received many messages asking for advice on
which HF bands to concentrate on. In Field Day, there are no
multipliers for states or sections or countries. What counts for
scoring is satisfying rules for various bonus points and multipliers
and working as many stations as possible on each band and mode. Your
best bet is going to be 40 and 20 meters, and be alert for sporadic
E openings on 15 and 10 meters. 40 meters will be open to many areas
of North America throughout the day and night, and 80 meters should
give good results from a couple of hours before local sunset on
Saturday night until a couple of hours past local sunrise on Sunday
morning. If you are in either California or Georgia, for example,
and trying to work the other end of this path, the best bet for 20
meters is from 530 PM PDT, or 830 PM EDT, until around 600 AM PDT,
or 900 AM EDT, then again with moderate signal strength 830 AM PDT,
or 1130 AM EDT, to 330 PM PDT, or 630 PM EDT. In other words, the
unlikely times of making contact from California to Georgia is
around 2300 to 0000z and then 1330 to 1500z. Sunspot numbers were
11, 0, 42, 23, 21, 20 and 19 with a mean of 19R4. 10R7 cm flux was
76R4, 75R3, 73R2, 73R3, 73R3, 72R9, and 72R7, with a mean of 73R9.
Estimated planetary A indices were 28, 10, 10, 8, 5, 4 and 4 with a
mean of 9R9. Estimated mid latitude A indices were 17, 7, 7, 6, 4, 2
and 2, with a mean of 6R4‚

‰ End of 18 WPM transition file ‰