Friday, September 04, 2026

U.K. Propagation Update

 
RSGB
RadCom Assistant Editor | September 4, 2026. Compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on 3 September 2026.

Solar activity has continued to decline, leaving us with a solar flux index around 100. The upside is we haven’t had any solar flares and associated coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, to contend with.



Over the last week, we had only one M-class flare and no X-class events. 
The solar flux index declined to 102 on Thursday, 3 September – down from 122 a week ago.

But the Kp index has been firmly in the range of 1 to 2, which bodes well for ionospheric stability.

This has led to maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs, over 3,000km being around 21 to 24MHz. However, FT8 has stretched this up to 28MHz at times.

There have been some good 10m band FT8 openings to South America late in the afternoon. Chile, Brazil, and Argentina were workable during these periods.

DX to be worked this week includes 3W9C from Vietnam; T99PB from Palau; Z68PX in Kosovo; P29YY in Papua New Guinea; HP/WE9G from Panama; D44TWO from Cape Verde; T32AZ from East Kiribati and J38DX and J38LD, operating from Grenada.

V47YA and V47RCX from St Kitts and Nevis will be active from 8 September until the end of the month and KH8WW, in American Samoa, will be on the air on 10-24 September.

Two rare ones to look for are VK0DS from Davis Station and VK0TBC from Casey Station, both in Antarctica. Operations are mostly using SSB and FT8, as time permits. Both stations have been spotted on the FT8 frequencies of the 20, 15 and 10m bands at times.

Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain around the
100 mark. However, the good news is that, barring any flares or CMEs, the Kp index should remain low, perhaps around 2 all week.

VHF and up propagation news:
Compiled by G3YLA and G0KYA.

The weather remains in a rather unsettled state. However, there are some signs of a transient area of high pressure brushing past the south of the country today, 6 September. This may create a chance of some tropo into the continent.

This could tie in very well with the RSGB 144MHz Trophy and Backpackers Contests, which are taking place today, 6 September. The unsettled pattern returns for the rest of the week and may not provide much help for the RSGB 432MHz UK Activity Contest on Tuesday, 8 September or the RSGB 50MHz UK Activity Contest on Thursday, 10 September.

In occasional bursts of heavier rain, there may be some potential for rain scatter on the GHz bands.

The prospects of meteor scatter remain in the random territory. So it is best to listen just before dawn for the better chances. The solar conditions have not been very dramatic lately with the Kp index staying below 3. However, if it perks up a bit, say above 5, there may be a chance of aurora.

The Sporadic-E season has more or less ended now. The next period to consider checking usually comes at the end of the year and the first week in January, for out-of-season surprise openings.

EME now, and sky noise should remain low during the coming week. Moon declination remains high. The Moon reached perigee, its closest point to Earth, yesterday, 5 September, so path losses remain low.

(Mike Terry, UK/BDXC)


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