Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts

3 Mar 2024

Over the peak?

My best site for solar data has been updated as it always is at the start of a month. It shows us just over the solar cycle peak. Unless we see a second peak (possible) we could be on a long decline to solar minimum. We can expect good conditions on the higher HF bands for some years yet. 

I remember working South America on 10m QRP SSB (10W pep and a dipole) right at the solar minimum and zero sunspots. With FT8 this should be even easier. 

Stick with the higher HF bands!

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

1 Jan 2024

Solar data update

Early every month, my favourite site for solar data is updated. It is worth checking to see how things are progressing.

1 Dec 2023

Solar data

It looks like the peak of solar cycle 25 may have been reached. November 2023 was the month shown as the predicted peak of this cycle. This has not changed for months on my favourite site for solar data.

We can expect conditions to be for several more years.

12 Nov 2023

Current solar conditions

Although I am far from an expert on this sort of thing, I suspect we have now passed the solar maximum in this cycle. Sunspot numbers and solar flux have been lower than past months. Usually, the solar maximum is averaged over several months, so the actual peak cannot be known until we are well over the peak.

Certainly MUFs have been high and my 2.5W 8m FT8 makes it to the USA, Canada or the Caribbean most days. Some amazing DX has been worked on 6m too. 

Solar conditions are currently very good on average. As I have mentioned before, solar conditions could be good for several years to come. With FT8 we could well find the higher HF bands are good for some while yet.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/.

5 Nov 2023

Solar cycles

One of the best places for solar data is https://www.solen.info/solar/. There are others too, but this is the site I usually go to. It is updated pretty often too.

1 Sept 2023

Solar cycle peak still this year?

My favourite site for solar data was updated today. It still shows the peak of solar cycle 25 as November 2023. This is early and conditions of late were on the slide. Unless we get a higher peak we could already be on the downward slopes. As mentioned before, solar conditions could be good for several years still.

30 Aug 2023

Solar activity

In the last month, apart from today, solar activity has been poorer than the month before. As the last solar minimum was only in 2020, I cannot believe we have already gone past the peak of solar cycle 25. In the last cycle there was a bigger peak after the first.

What is certain is that solar activity can remain good for several years after the peak. Even if this was a very early peak and not a blip, we can expect solar activity to remain good for several years yet. If the peak really is a way off, this means we can expect solar activity to be pretty good until at least 2026.

It is my belief that it is often low activity rather than conditions that make the higher HF bands seem dead. With modes like FT8, we may well find 10m, for example, is "open" far more often than we once thought.

1 Aug 2023

Solar cycle peak this year?

My favourite site for solar data has just been updated. It still show the peak of solar cycle 25 as November 2023 with a peak of 144.2 (this is up slightly). This seems early, but it has been late this year now for a very long time. If so, conditions could still be good for several years to come. It is definitely worth watching 10m FT8.  I suspect 10m will remain open far more than we thought.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

1 Jun 2023

The next solar peak

According to the latest update to my favourite site for solar data, the next sunspot maximum is still shown as December 2023 with a smoothed number of 142.5. This makes it a very short time since the minimum. The information was updated today.

See  https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

1 Apr 2023

Solar maximum?

The site I always look at for the latest data is still showing the peak of this solar cycle in November 2023, i.e. this year. The information was only updated today.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

24 Mar 2023

CME

It looks like the coming days (especially today) could see quite disturbed solar conditions due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) on the sun. I am not clever enough to know how this will effect HF and low VHF.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

1 Mar 2023

Solar data updated

My favourite site for solar data has been updated. It still expects solar maximum November this year. If correct, this is very early.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

28 Feb 2023

Solar conditions

The sunspot count remains respectably high with counts of over 100 most days. My favourite site for solar data is still showing the next solar peak as Nov 2023, which seems quite early. Figures are usually revised in the early days of the new month.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

3 Feb 2023

Solar data

The latest information on solar cycle 25 is out. It still shows the peak as November this year, which is early.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/

13 Jan 2023

Solar cycle peak this year?

The 11 year solar cycle is an average with some cycles shorter than this and some longer. 

I am most definitely not an expert on this area, but note my favourite site for solar data is still forecasting the peak in November this year. Whatever, solar conditions are good at the moment. 10m (my favourite HF band) is in great shape and could be for several years. Even in the depths of the last solar minimum some spectacular DX was spotted on FT8.

1 Jan 2023

Solar data

 At the start of the month, there is usually an update of solar data at this site. It is usually my first port of call for solar data. 

As late as yesterday, it was still showing the solar peak as November 2023, which seems early to me, although I am no solar expert!

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

1 Dec 2022

Updated solar data

At the start of the month Solan updates its data on solar conditions. The latest update was this morning. It still shows the latest solar cycle peaking late next year. This is very early.

Personally, I find this data very interesting.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .

1 Nov 2022

Solar data

This data is usually updated early in the month. As far as I can tell, it has only had a partial update. Last month they were still expecting the current solar cycle to peak in November 2023, which seems quite early. The last solar cycle had 2 peaks.

See https://www.solen.info/solar .

1 Oct 2022

Solar data

Early in the month the solar data at https://www.solen.info/solar/ is updated with the latest information. This usually happens on the first or second day of the month.

1 Sept 2022

Solar data update

Usually in the first few days of the month, my favourite site for solar data does an update. Watch out for this. Last month, the maximum for solar cycle 25 was expected November 2023.

See https://www.solen.info/solar/ .