PROPAGATION
Quick Look at Current Cycle 25 Conditions:
(Data rounded to nearest whole number)
Sunspots:
Observed Monthly, August 2021: 23
12-month smoothed, February 2021: 19
10.7-cm Flux:
Observed Monthly, August 2021: 78
12-month smoothed, February 2021: 78
ONE YEAR AGO:
(Data rounded to nearest whole number)
Sunspots:
Observed Monthly, August 2020: 8
12-month smoothed, February 2020: 3
10.7-cm Flux:
Observed Monthly, August 2020: 72
12-month smoothed, February 2020: 71
The new solar cycle is picking up some steam. The 10.7-cm Radio Flux readings during September rose at times above 100 and we are no longer seeing long periods without sunspots. While there are days with a count of zero sunspots, such spotless days are becoming less common. This results in an uptick of DX activity on the high frequencies (HF). For example, daytime openings on 10 meters between the northeastern U.S. and Europe surprised DXers late in September.
Along with the increase in sunspots, we’ve observed some of the first moderately strong X-ray flares (M-class). Flares can cause radio blackouts on the sunlit side of Earth, but these fadeouts did not last very long in September.
Also common with flares and sunspots are coronal mass ejections, in which massive clouds of solar plasma are ejected onto the solar wind. If directed
