We finally got rid of the high-speed solar wind stream, which caused havoc on the HF bands. But we are not out of the woods yet! Last week saw the Kp index hit 6.67 on 2 October, and it was often up around 4 or more. Even though the Kp index eventually reduced, the ionosphere […]

Last week was characterised by very unsettled geomagnetic conditions with a Kp index that reached 7.33 on 30 September and was often above 5. This is not good for HF propagation! But what caused this? A high-speed solar wind stream at around 750 kilometres per second, coupled with the Bz component of the Sun’s magnetic […]

Last week was good for HF propagation for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are now entering autumn, which offers better propagation prospects than summer. Secondly, the solar flux index has remained high at up to 184 as of last Thursday 25 September. We had a week of near-normal geomagnetic conditions, with a low Kp […]

Last week we said that it looked like someone had thrown a switch on the Sun and all the sunspots had vanished. Well, this week we’re pleased to report they’re back! We have eight sunspot groups, spread evenly throughout the Sun’s hemispheres. Interestingly, the northern hemisphere sunspots are close to the equator, which is what […]