The K7RA Solar Update

SEATTLE, WA, Mar 31, 2006--Sunspots continue to be scarce,
although numbers have risen the past couple of days. March 25-27
had zero spots, but then they rose over the next few days to 11, 31
and 35, respectively. Geomagnetic conditions have been nice and
stable and should continue that way until April 6.

Even last weekend when there were no sunspots, 10 meters was
active during the CQ WPX contest. Bill Hohnstein, K0HA, of
Seward, Nebraska reports A35RK in Tonga worked EA8TX in the
Canary Islands, a path of nearly 11,000 miles, on March 26 around
2153 UTC. Around that same time, K0HA worked both stations,
plus many strong Central and South American stations, ZD8Z on
Ascension Island and AH6RF in Hawaii. Bill also copied the
ZL2MHF beacon, which runs 10 W to a vertical antenna. His
longest-path QSO was with ZL1ANJ, 7709 miles, at 1957 UTC on
March 26.

For more information concerning propagation and an explanation of
the numbers used in this bulletin see the ARRL Technical
Information Service Propagation page. An archive of past bulletins
is on the ARRL Web site.

Sunspot numbers for March 23 through 29 were 36, 44, 0, 0, 0, 11
and 31, with a mean of 17.4. The 10.7 cm flux was 76.6, 75.8, 75.6,
73.6, 74.3, 79.3, and 81.7, with a mean of 76.7. Estimated
planetary A indices were 5, 4, 7, 7, 9, 6 and 6, with a mean of 6.3.
Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 2, 4, 5, 8, 4 and 4, with a
mean of 4.1.
(K7RA, ARRL)

dxAce
Michigan
USA