[TenTec] A tad off topic...solar updates

[Dr. Gerald N. Johnson]

On Sat, 2007-12-15 at 20:25 -0500, Mike Bryce wrote:
> Boys and girls..
> 
> every now and then I get a report from the arrl about the status of  
> Mr. Sun.
> 
> K values, D values, ABC and XZY values

Well, you could read the last page of the propagation chapter in a
recent ARRL Antenna Handbook, or you could acquire a propagation
forecast program discussed a couple pages earlier and feed it those
numbers to get a forecast. The troubles are that propagation forecasts
are less well correlated with these measurable values (which WWV gives 6
times a day or so) than rain is with weather forecasting.
> 
> How come no one can just tell me that the bands suck next week or  
> I'll be amazed at what my Argonaut VI will be doing?

Truth is sometimes the bands will be bad, sometimes they will be good
and a good part of the time the forecasts will be wrong. But if you
believe all the times forecast to be bad are bad you will never know
they weren't so bad, or going up or down a band worked adequately.
> 
> Does anyone publish solar updates that don't require a PHD in solar  
> physics?
> 
> 
> Mike, WB8VGE
> SunLight Energy Systems
> The Heathkit Shop
> http://www.theheathkitshop.com/
> J e e p
> o|||||||o
> Note: No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a  
> large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced
> 
73, Jerry, K0CQ