SFI of 93!
Steve Telenius-Lowe PJ4DX notes a significant increase in solar flux, reports on some personal milestones and has news of a Silent Key.
Season’s greetings to all readers. There was a distinct upturn in propagation in October which continued into November. Conditions during the CQ World Wide DX Phone contest at the end of October were great on 7 to 28MHz (although very poor on 3.5 and 1.8MHz), with 10m open from here to eastern Europe and Africa to the east through to Hawaii in the west. Quite remarkable at this stage of the solar cycle.
So, could the improvement in propagation be caused by the first stirrings of Sunspot Cycle 25? Well, maybe. It is normal for the Solar Flux Index (SFI) and Sunspot Number (SN) to rise sharply after solar minimum and decrease gradually after the maximum. But it’s also normal for propagation to improve around the autumn equinox and then deteriorate as winter comes along. So, it’s too early to tell whether this is the beginning of the longawaited sustained improvement that Solar Cycle 25 will certainly (eventually) bring.
As a reminder, the SFI is a measure of the sun’s radio emissions at a wavelength of 10.7cm (2.8GHz). The SN is a measure of the observed sunspots and sunspot groups: one sunspot group ‘scores’ 10 and each individual sunspot 1. The minimum SN value, other than zero, is therefore 11 (one sunspot and so only one group).
I thought it would be interesting, as a new feature for this year, to compare the SFI and SN month by month on the deadline date of this column, the 11th of each month. See Table 1 (the SFI actually rose as high as 93 and the SN to 35 on November 7th, the highest levels they have been for three or four years, before falling back again by the 11th). The SFI and SN can vary considerably from day to day, so little should be read into the absolute levels on any particular day, but it will be interesting to see the upward trend as Solar Cycle 25 progresses.
Why is all this important? Well, the higher the solar flux or sunspot number – and there is a distinct correlation between the two – the better the propagation on most of the HF bands, and especially the higherfrequency ones. Signals will be stronger than at present, openings will last longer, and there will be openings that simply do not exist at the moment, such as from western Europe to the central Pacific on 28MHz, when the SFI or SN eventually rise above a certain level.
Fig. 1 shows the SN progression throughout Solar Cycle 24 and the predicted levels for Cycle 25. The twin peaks of Cycle 24 can be clearly seen and note that for much of 2020 the SN was 0 (and the SFI was around 68, which is about as low as it gets). There is far more on these subjects at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_number https://tinyurl.com/yyc7pj4k
Personal Operating Milestones
I was first licensed as G8FEO in 1971 at the age of 16. This year will therefore mark my 50th year as a licensed radio amateur. I know many amateurs, including some regular contributors to this column, have been licensed far longer than that, but to me it seems a milestone worth celebrating!
As with most amateurs, my level of activity has waxed and waned over the years but I have never been as active as I am now and in October I achieved a second milestone: 100,000 QSOs as PJ4DX. According to Club Log, overall 98% of those contacts were on SSB and 2% on CW, although in 2018 very nearly 10% of my QSOs were on CW (a statistic that surprised me as much as anyone else!).
I normally operate the CQ World Wide contest in October as part of a multi-operator team. In most recent years this has been as PJ4Q although in 2019 I joined PJ4K, the new American-owned contest station here on Bonaire. Sadly, Covid-19 meant there was no repeat of this operation in 2020 so I entered CQWW as PJ4DX from my own rather more modest station. I took part in the ‘Classic’ section for single operators using a single radio and without any form of assistance such as DX Cluster. It also limits the operating time to 24 of the 48 hours of the contest weekend. The unexpectedly good conditions allowed me to make over 3400 contacts and it was this that pushed the PJ4DX QSO total over the 100,000 mark.
Have you had any personal operating milestones recently, or are any coming up this year? Please let us know!
Sad News
One of the world’s best-known radio amateurs, John Devoldere ON4UN, became a Silent Key on November 9th. John was a top DXer on 80m and 160m and literally wrote the book on the subject: his ON4UN’s Low-Band DXing, Fig. 2, published by ARRL, has sold in the tens of thousands and a well-thumbed copy of the 585-page tome has pride of place on my bookshelf. RIP ON4UN.
Readers’News
Owen Williams G0PHY wrote that “Nearly all the activity this month was over the weekend of the CQ World Wide Phone contest. It was great to have significant activity on both 21MHz and 28MHz during the contest. On 7MHz I was able to work into the east coast of the USA and the Canary Islands. 14MHz was open to the USA, Canada, Caribbean
and Asia and gave me a new one, Robert T6A in Afghanistan. This together with 4U75UN gave me two new ones in a month, just like old times when I was starting out collecting DXCCs. Most of the US stations worked on 14MHz were in New England but I did manage K0BBC in South Dakota. However, despite generally good conditions I did not hear any west coast USA/Canadian stations, but that could have been because I was listening at the wrong time. 21MHz was open to the same parts of the world as 14MHz with the best DX being ZS6CCY in South Africa. 28MHz was full of Europeans but I did manage QSOs with EA8RM in the Canaries and KC1XX in New Hampshire. I managed contacts with KC1XX on 7, 14, 21 and 28MHz. I’m sorry I didn’t hear PJ4DX though I did hear PJ4X but as he said he was suffering heavy line noise I did not spend too much time calling him.”
Tony Usher G4HZW is another who took advantage of the higher solar flux and improved propagation on the higher bands.
“I had a bash on 21MHz using the 7MHz vertical; it works but not too well from looking at what others are working... During the current period the SFI rose to 91, mirroring the increase in cycle 25 sunspots and I was delighted to work my first 28MHz FT8 VK (VK6APK) on October 22nd at 0920UTC. Also new on the band were 5Z4VJ, 9M2TO and EY8MM, bringing my total this year to 111. I now have 142 worked (124 confirmed) on 28MHz FT8 since September 2017. On 7MHz Alaska was a new one and the highlight. On 21MHz I was pleased with RW0 and 9J2BS.”
It’s always good to greet new contributors to this column, so a warm welcome to John Rowlands MW1CFN who was enjoying the good conditions on 12m: “I’m active most days on 12m, with a 3-element LFA
( Fig. 3) from Anglesey... Late October has been very good on 12m, with daily openings to Asiatic Russia (UA9CGL, UA9YK, UA9CK), Africa (ZS1SC, 5Z4VJ), South and Central America (countless PY stations, VP8NO, LU4FYF, XE1GZU), and the whole of North America (countless, including N5NMX, W4DAS).” We look forward to getting more 12m reports from John in future.
As reported last month, Etienne Vrebos OS8D/ON8DN had to send his Acom 1500 amplifier away for repair. He wrote to say
“I just received my new Acom 1000 ( Fig. 4) today, ordered two days ago from WIMO in Germany – great service! Working great. No news from the Acom 1500 sent back to Bulgaria by my favourite dealer. Of course, I expect it to be repaired under warranty but it could take weeks. I’ll have a PA in reserve, in
case of being unlucky again.”
Having been in virtual lockdown for six months, come the first week of October Victor Brand G3JNB and his wife Audrey went down to Brighton for a much-needed holiday. The FT-818/Miracle Whip QRP combo was packed with the idea of just short sessions (or, if wet, long ones!) “Certainly, the possibility of operating from the sixth-floor balcony of our venerable Victorian hotel, looking straight out to sea, Fig. 5, was an attractive prospect. Setting up was simple and I could hear good CW signals on 20/30/40m. But the little rig simply refused to transmit! Battery charge? Close proximity of iron railings? Or had ‘Murphy’ joined the party? Not risking damage to the PA, there was nothing for it but to revert to the SWL /P mode and I started to log callsigns. EUs abounded on 20/30m but 40m sounded the most promising. I enjoyed short sessions copying the EUs but really I was seeing if any DX was discernible with just a 52-inch whip antenna... On the Saturday, during the Oceania Contest, VK2IM in NSW came through on 40m very well. 20m yielded 4U75B, the UN Global Services Centre Radio Club in Brindisi, Italy and, on the Sunday, W9SN, VE2WK and K3CT were good signals.
“Certainly, the listening took me back to my teenage SWL days on the homebrew 1-V-2 breadboard receiver (2V valves). And I recalled that enigmatic slogan displayed across the front of those huge, century old, long wave plug-in basket coils: ‘Hear what the Wild Waves are Saying’. Quite!
“Back home and no ‘Murphy’, no problems and my first DX QSO was with Tom W0WP in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, followed by VE2CSI Sept-Isles, both on 17m, and a ‘QRP Hat Trick’ with Z66DX on 20, 30 and 40m.”
Bill Ward 2E0BWX says he worked “lots of European stations” during the month, though his highlight was a contact with KZ9DX on 14MHz FT4. He added, “I’ve also been playing on WSPR this month with some surprisingly good reports.” Bill attached a screenshot, Fig. 6, of some of his WSPR spots, which were achieved with 5W to an end-fed wire.
Kevin Hewitt ZB2GI reports that on October 10th he achieved Digital modes DXCC using Logbook of The World (LoTW). During the month the ZB2TEN WSPR transmitter at the top of the Rock fell silent. On inspection the coaxial cables had been pulled [by the Barbary apes? – Ed] until they snapped. John King ZB2JK promptly repaired the cables and normal service was resumed. Kevin operated portable from Camp Bay, known locally as ‘El Quarry’, with John three times in October. They used a
Lafayette 2400FM modified by John for 10m to 8m of wire wound on a 5m fishing pole and connected via a 9:1 balun.
Around the Bands
Owen G0PHY: 7MHz SSB: EA8RM, KC1XX, N2NT, W3LPL. 14MHz SSB: 3V8SS, 4L0G, K0BBC, P49Y, T6A, VE9CB. 21MHz SSB: EA8RM, CO6HLP, N3RD, P40W, PR4T, VA2WA, VE3EJ, VY2ZM, W3LPL, ZS6CCY. 28MHz SSB: EA8RM, KC1XX.
Tony Usher G4HZW: 7MHz FT4: 8P2K, AC2OC, AJ4OA, CU5AM, HI3CMM, JW9DL, KB8TXZ, WP4JMN, YV5DRN. 7MHz FT8: 7Z1IS, CN5VAY, KL7TC, OA4AI, RM9M, VK2IZI, VO1BE, W5E, W0GJ. 21MHz FT8: 9J2BS, OY1OF, RW0AR, TA2AFA, VE2GCE. 28MHz SSB: 4U1A, 8S8S, CE3CT, K1KI, VE9CB, WW2DX. 28MHz FT8: 3B8CW, 4X0AAP/40, 5Z4VJ, 9M2TO, CE2SQE, CX3AL, EY8MM, HQ1JBR, K2HJ, KN4JSF, LU1HW, PU2MXU, VK6APK, VP8LP, VU2OY, VU3WEW, WA6YOU, XR33M, YF1DO, ZR1ADI, ZS1F, (plus many more South Americans).
Etienne OS8D/ON8DN: 14MHz SSB: 4L1BB, 6W1QL, 9K2TV, JE1RXJ, JW/LB1QI, K6JO, S79KW, S79VU, UN6LN, VK2BY, VK2CR, VU2DSI, W7ZB, YB0MWM, YI9/ IU5HWS, Z66DX, ZL2SDX. 18MHz SSB: 4A50CRH, 9Z4FE, JA8COE, PJ4/DL6KR ( Fig. 8), S01WS. 21MHz SSB: 9Z4FE, BD7BM, CO8LY, CR2X, CX3AT, EX8VI, EY7AD, LU1JHD, P49Y, PJ4/W1MD, PY2JY, PY5QW, TI2JS, VK2PH, VU2ATN, VU2XO, XE1CQ, YB0IBM, ZD7FT, ZS6CCY, ZS6HA, ZS6TVB, ZT1T. 24MHz SSB: 9Z4FE, ZD7FT. 28MHz SSB: 7Q6M, CX2DK, FR4QT, ZS6TVB.
Victor G3JNB/P SWL report (using indoor whip): 40m CW: 4U75A, VE2CSI (Zone 2), VK2IM. 20m CW: 4U75B, K7GT, VE2WK,
W9SN.
Bill 2E0BWX: 7MHz FT8: LX1HD, OZ1JVX, PE9EK. 7MHz FT4: SP7JKX. 14MHz FT8: 5B4AMM, HF4U, OE4KSF. 14MHz FT4: KZ9DX, R7IW, RW1CW. 14MHz PSK31: UB3YAO. 18MHz FT8: RU6M, SV5DKL. 21MHz FT8: IK3FUS. 28MHz FT8: EA3OR.
Kevin ZB2GI: 5MHz FT8: PY4OY, TA4AEI, TF2MSN, W1NG. 7MHz FT8: 5B60ALJ, A45XR, AB1EP, AG9S, CT3MD, PA75DKM, WO2T. 21MHz FT8: BH4QYX, JH1ECG, JL1IEO. 24MHz FT8: AI9T, CX4AD, FG8OJ, HC6PE, HI8RD, HK3W, K0QC, LU6FOV, PT2ZM, VE2RO, YB0DJ, ZS1DX. 28MHz FT8: C31CT, HF6W, LX2SM, PU2SWR, TF2CT, ZS1DX.
Kevin ZB2GI/P: 28MHz SSB: CE7WCQ, CR9ABS, LU1JHD, PT2GTI, PZ1EL, plus many other LU and PY stations.
Signing Off
Thanks to all contributors. Please send all input for this column to teleniuslowe@gmail.com by 11th of each month. Photographs would be particularly welcome. For the March issue the deadline is January 11th. 73, Steve PJ4DX.