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And so is the vernal equinox. Tomorrow (23rd) is apparently the date when things start to get a bit more useful on the HF bands. During this last solar cycle I’ve developed an interest in propagation over and above what I would have as a normal ham. Still it seems that this cycle brings with it promises of propagation riches that don’t seem to come to light. I’m not holding out for a massive change but on reflection something like the spring would be greatly appreciated. Can you here me sun

Some activity finally rolling in.

Theres hope for a few QSO’s to South America but only if I stay up very late. Not much chance of that at the moment though. A few more weeks should do the trick nicely!

All I seem to get at the moment is noise!

having had a pretty poor Es season compared to last year I have switched back to HF. This hasn’t really worked either…..There must be some radio gremlins floating about as I’ve hardly even heard a European station for weeks let alone someone from further afield. All I’m getting is a load of old noise.

Good for the XYL as its made me fit the new Freesat cabling ( I don’t do Sky) for our PVR. Tidy up the garden and other uninteresting home type tasks. I even managed to get out and do a 10 mile time trial on my bike last Tuesday. Another first.

Its amazing what else you end up doing when the bands are dead…

Or is the sun getting its hat on?

W1AW reports through the regular bulletins that the sun spot numbers have changed a bit over the last few months to give an extended low. Something that is all too familiar if you try and listen out for DX at the moment.

Below is a graph of the smoothed numbers that are taken from the recent published numbers. I’ve added a polynomial trend line to show what the smoothed smoothed sun spot numbers look like.