PROPAGATION

Quick Look at Current Cycle 25 Conditions:

(Data rounded to nearest whole number)

Sunspots:

Observed Monthly, October 2021: 37

12-month smoothed, April 2021: 24

10.7-cm Flux:

Observed Monthly, October 2021: 90

12-month smoothed, April 2021: 80

One Year Ago:

(Data rounded to nearest whole number)

Sunspots:

Observed Monthly, October 2020: 13

12-month smoothed, April 2020: 4

10.7-cm Flux:

Observed Monthly, October 2020: 75

12-month smoothed, April 2020: 71

Here is an overview of expected propagation conditions on each amateur band from 6 through 160 meters for 2022.

Six Meters: This band may see occasional DX-distance F-layer propagation, on days with high 10.7-cm Radio Flux numbers greater than 100 (remember that the predicted monthly number is the expected). Be observant and you might catch one of the short openings. However, it is not expected that 6 meters will be active for DX, compared to the years of the solar cycle maximum. The summer season will bring the usual troposcatter (a.k.a. Tropospheric scatter <>) and Sporadic-E (a.k.a. E <>) activity. Aurora will still play a major role during spring and fall.