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No sunspot activity this week, and if no sunspot appears today, July
31, the average sunspot number for July will be 5R1, down from Junes
average of 6R6.  The monthly average of the daily sunspot number,
January through July 2009, is 2R8, 2R5, 0R8, 1R3, 4, 6R6 and 5R1.
The three month averages for October 2008 through June 2009 were
4R5, 4R4, 3R6, 2R2, 2, 1R5, 2, 4R2 and 5R2.  This takes into account
all the daily sunspot numbers for September 2008 through July 2009,
and those numbers are for the center months of each of those three
month moving average periods.  Terry Rogers, WA4BVY of Chapel Hill,
North Carolina says he is really enjoying this solar cycle bottom.
He writes, A friend of mine just got back into ham radio bewailing
he picked a poor time with no sunspots.  Not so.  I got into ham
radio in 1958 right when 6 meters was open most days but I have
never heard E skip every other day and all the way to 6 meters multi
hop, I heard N5OMG comment that night he got a JA7 on 6, and I heard
him on 6.  I dont even have a 6 meter antenna, 80/40/20 inverted
vees up 20 feet.  Im retired in an apartment, but I use the wire I
have with good results out past 1500 miles.  10M E skip comes down
just one state away a lot of times.  I never was able to call CQ on
6 CW before and get several answers.  I worked the first PSK31 ever
for me on 6 the other night.  Also, I came in here yesterday at 530
PM EDT about and found the strongest signal on 40 SSB which turned
out to be EA7GAK, Javier, near the Strait of Gibraltar.  Wow.  Broad
daylight 40M DX.  40M is the new 20M.  The path was only half dark.
Not only that, but I come in here in the evenings and talk SSB with
Italy for 15 minutes or so using 100 watts.  5 watts PSK31 to Italy
is easy on 40 with low QRN.  So if this is how 160/80/40 F layer and
10/6 E layer are with no sunspots, the sun can keep its ole sun
spots.  World Radio magazine ceased publishing a hard copy of their
monthly journal, but they are still publishing by posting PDF
documents on the web.  Best of all, Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA still
writes his monthly propagation column for them.  Go to //www.cq dash
amateur dash radio.com/WorldRadio.html and click on Back Issues in
the left column.  You can download the entire content of all 2009
issues by right clicking on the link below each month, then saving
to your drive.  Carls column is always in the higher numbered pages,
so if you want to get to his column quickly, just download the last
section only.  Carl is very knowledgeable about propagation, and his
articles are always interesting and informative.  Also check out
Carls website at //mysite.verizon.net/k9la/ to read more of his
writing.  For this weekend, the planetary A index is predicted at 7,
which is slightly more active than it has been lately.  A solar wind
from a coronal hole would be the cause.  We are hoping for a return
of a recent sunspot group, but only a weak sunspot was spotted from
European observatories this morning.  Geophysical Institute Prague
predicts unsettled conditions July 31, quiet to unsettled August 1,
quiet August 2 to 4, quiet to unsettled August 5, and unsettled
August 6.  If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our
readers, email the author at, k7ra at arrl.net.  Monthly propagation
charts between four USA regions and twelve overseas locations are at
//www.arrl.org/qst/propcharts/.  Instructions for starting or ending
email distribution of this bulletin are at //www.arrl.org/w1aw.html
pound sign email.  Sunspot numbers were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with
a mean of 0.  10R7 cm flux was 67R8, 68R3, 69R1, 67R6, 68R4, 68R7,
and 68R3 with a mean of 68R3.  Estimated planetary A indices were 8,
6, 7, 3, 4, 4 and 2 with a mean of 4R9.  Estimated mid latitude A
indices were 8, 5, 5, 1, 2, 3 and 2 with a mean of 3R7‚

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