Thursday, June 5, 2014

118 New Hams coming to the air from South Africa

Listen out for upward of 118 new hams coming to the air from South Africa. This after South African Radio League Radio Examination Manager ZS4GJA, reports a good pass rate for the ham radio exams administered last month.

Unlike other countries South Africa only has two amateur radio exams each year. They are held in May and October, with usually around 120 successful candidates for each session. Call signs for candidates who submitted all the paperwork prior to the May examination have been published and they may start using their new call signs immediately.

Artsat One Invader Reports Needed

Masahiro Sanada, JI1ZR reports the amateur radio CubeSat Artsat One Invader also known as CO-77 is in trouble and he is asks radio hams world-wide to keep an ear open for the bird and to report anything heard.

According to Sanada, the satellite does not reply to commands from the control station and those involved in the project are trying to find out why in hope of finding a fix or work-around. The downlink frequency for Artsat One Invader is 437.325MHz. If you hear the bird please send that information via a form on the web at api.artsat.jp/report

My Stamp Collecting Blog

Counter Added January 1, 2011

free counters

HOW TO READ PROPAGATION NUMBERS

The A index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 1 to 6 is BEST
  • 7 to 9 is OK
  • 11 or more is BAD

Represents the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Ap" if averaged from the Kp-Index) (an average of the eight 3-hour K-Indices) ('A' referring to amplitude) over a given 24 hour period, ranging (linearly) typically from 1-100 but theoretically up to 400.

A lower A-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Ap-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

SFI index [ HIGH is GOOD ]

  • 70 NOT GOOD
  • 80 GOOD
  • 90 BETTER
  • 100+ BEST

The measure of total radio emissions from the sun at 10.7cm (2800 MHz), on a scale of 60 (no sunspots) to 300, generally corresponding to the sunspot level, but being too low in energy to cause ionization, not related to the ionization level of the Ionosphere.

Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

K index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 0 or 1 is BEST
  • 2 is OK
  • 3 or more is BAD
  • 5 is VERY VERY BAD

The overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Kp" if averaged over the planet) over the past 3 hours, measured by 13 magnetometers between 46 & 63 degrees of latitude, and ranging quasi-logarithmically from 0-9. Designed to detect solar particle radiation by its magnetic effect. A higher K-index generally means worse HF conditions.

A lower K-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Kp-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

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