Hi Sam,
IMO, the honest answer is that we don't really know. I don't have as
much experience on TB as some of the OT's, but in my 12 years of
activity I have tried to find a correlation between space weather and
propagation, with remarkably little success.
For example, on Sunday evening ZL time condx were excellent. LP Signals
from G were good, and I worked my first LA's via LP. On Monday morning
things were still humming, and I put 15 Eu stations in the log around
SR. Those contacts were all in excess of 18 000km.
Last night the solar flux and K index were exactly the same as the
previous day, but prop was completely different. Tom G3OLB and I
managed a scratchy QSO, but that was it. Same at SR just now. I could
JUST hear IV3PRK and PA3FQA, but not with enough signal for a QSO. Go
figure!
There is one situation that seems to bring good condx fairly
consistently, and that is when the A index is on a steep rise.
That's what I have observed operating from both ZS and ZL. There really
is no reliable pattern.
73 Greg, ZL3IX
Sam Morgan wrote:
> Is the increase in sunspot activity god or bad for 160m. It seems conditions
> on
> 160m are best in winter and when we are at a sunspot cycle low? So are these
> recent increases indicators that 160m propagation will be in decline?
>
> When answering, please include what it means, not only for those capable of
> working all this wonderful Pacific and over the pole DX I keep reading about,
>
> but also, what it means to those of us, that dx simply means making in across
> the country or just as far as Alaska or Hawaii, with low power and minimal
> antennas.
>
> TIA
>
_______________________________________________
160 meters is a serious band, it should be treated with respect. - TF4M
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