Category Archives: Propagation

Unbelievable 10-Meter Activity for CQ-WW Contest

Posted on November 24, 2024 by robert

This weekend is the CQ World Wide CW contest, one of the largest of the year.  When I woke up this morning, I checked out the waterfall display from my Flex6600M, and could not believe my eyes: 10-Meters was wall … Continue reading →

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Spectacular Auroral Display

Posted on October 11, 2024 by robert

Solar Cycle 25 has been an exciting one for sure, with many X-level solar flares and a few excellent opportunities for those of us who live around 41 degrees latitude to see auroral activity. This past week several notable flares … Continue reading →

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N5J Contact on 17m FT8

Posted on August 18, 2024 by robert

I’ve been casually looking for N5J on Jarvis Island for the past week or so.  I heard them once on 12m CW early on, and have seen many spots.  Since my operating time has mostly been between local noon and … Continue reading →

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A POTA Aurora?

Posted on May 11, 2024 by robert

Aurora watching turned into a thing when the largest Geomagnetic Storm in more than two decades gave us Earthlings a spectacular view of the power and majesty of our sun last night.  Sadly, Rhode Island weather wasn’t as cooperative as … Continue reading →

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Amazing Times for Solar Cycle 25

Posted on May 10, 2024 by robert

The Kp index reached a value of 8 today, after the planet was struck by one or more CMEs, pushing the planet into a Severe Geomagnetic Storm (G4), something we haven’t seen for 20 years.  Multiple additional CMEs are headed … Continue reading →

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CWops CWT Silver Medal Achieved

Posted on July 21, 2023 by robert

As of early yesterday morning (3 AM), I completed CWT #90 on the year.  This earns the Silver Medal (which I achieved my first year).  I need 30 more contests to get to 120 and earn the Gold Medal (which … Continue reading →

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Solar Cycle 25 now out of prediction bounds…

Posted on July 11, 2023 by robert

As I type this, my side of the planet has undergone a sudden R2 radio blackout due to a M 6.8 solar flare.  Sadly no 40/20/15 meter contacts for the next few hours. As I was confirming the flare, I … Continue reading →

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Added Hawaii to POTA WAS list

Posted on March 26, 2023 by robert

The Parks-on-the-Air (POTA) program is somewhat unique in that they have 51 entities listed for Worked All States (WAS); the usual 50 plus DC as a “wildcard”.  I had worked DC, so when I had 49 states confirmed this January, … Continue reading →

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Park #51 in Rhode Island Activated

Posted on April 2, 2022 by robert

I had forgotten how long it had been since my last activation (November 9, 2021), and how nice it was to be outside.  My wife, dog Jaclyn, and I drove to Beach Pond (K-6980) which is on the boarder of … Continue reading →

Posted in Activation, HamStick, IC-7300, Portable, POTA, Propagation | 3 Comments

Solar Cycle 25 Continues to Amaze

Posted on January 15, 2022 by robert

The official prediction for Solar Cycle 25 was a bit disappointing, with most forecasters agreeing that it would be similar to Solar Cycle 24, and only a few suggesting it might be better. Well, in the 15 months since Solar … Continue reading →

Posted in Propagation, Solar Cycles | 4 Comments