EP Swynar wrote:
> Good Day All,
>
> I thought that the seemingly continuous stretch of poor conditions on the
> band this year were a product of my imagination & impatience...until I took a
> look at my log book for this same time period from a short year ago.
>
> The difference is like black & white. I had occasions last December &
> November when I would easily work a half dozen, & more, European & South
> American stations nightly, on a regular basis --- this year, I'm lucky if I
> can even HEAR half that number on any given evening!
>
> I thought things would have dramatically improved on 160 as we approached the
> bottom of the solar cycle...
>
> Is it just me, or are others of the same opinion re. the shape of things on
> Topband...?
>
Topband conditions during this sunspot minimum are nothing like they were
during
the 1995-1996 minimum. However, it's easy to look at the daily solar flux
numbers and see why... Either we have a way to go before we reach the minimum,
or this minimum is going to be the most active minimum in many sunspot cycles.
Let's look at one interesting statistic - the period of time when the solar
flux
was 100 or less. Looking back to the previous sunspot cycle, the flux was <100
from March 3, 1994 until November 23, 1996 - 2 1/2 years of low solar flux. So
far, in this minimum, we were below 100 only from May 1, 2006 until December 5,
2006. More evidence - We have had, so far, very few spotless days compared to
the previous sunspot minimum.
73,
Steve, N2IC
_______________________________________________
Topband mailing list
Topband@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/topband
|