Solar Flare

[K5CC]

Maybe there is hope – On 1 Aug there was a significant solar flare.
NASA has the following statement on their website regarding the
Event:

The Sun goes through a regular activity cycle about 11 years long.
The last solar maximum occurred in 2001 and its recent extreme
solar minimum was particularly weak and long lasting. These kinds
of eruptions are one of the first signs that the Sun is waking up and
heading toward another solar maximum expected in the 2013 time
Frame.

[ka5dwi]

Hello Everybody,

When we get a healthy solar flare followed by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), you will get some heightened propagation. It usually occurs just as the Auroral propagation is ending. This was the case last Tuesday afternoon.

Around midday, many in the northern latitudes were working 6 and 2 Meter Aurora. Around 23:00 UTC it ended and 10-Meters lit up. There were many trans-continental QSO's, plus the Carribean and Hawaii.

In a 2-hour period, I had 10-Meter PropNET PSK31 connections to Connecticut, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Hawaii, plus and number of captures in between.

To be ready for such events, Spaceweather.com is a good source of knowing when. The realtime maps at http://www.PropNET.org are excellent sources of happenings. DX Sherlock is a good source, but tends to get reports after the fact on 10 Meters (work DX then report).

I don't know what to expect this weekend. Historically (5 year measurement) August 7-8 are fairly good Es days, but I have some concerns what the solar events of the past fews days have done to Es overall. My experiences have shown that an active Sun will hurt Es over the long-haul. It has become fairly quiet and I hope Es return with a vengence.

73's
Art KA5DWI in N. Texas