RSGB
RadCom Assistant Editor | March 13, 2026
There has been plenty to work on the HF bands this past week.
3Y0K on Bouvet Island is still attracting a lot of radio amateurs, but there is also 8Q7ZW on the Maldives and German group J51A on Guinea-Bissau to get your attention.
DXpeditions to look out for next week include TX5EU from the Austral Islands, YJ1JXZ in Vanuatu, the tail-end of operations at T80K in Palau and VP2EAD, VP2ELX and VP2EWE on Anguilla.
HF propagation has been reasonable, rather than outstanding, with a solar flux index in the 140s, declining to the 120s as the week progressed. There have been a few C-class solar flares but nothing stronger.
Geomagnetic conditions have also been reasonable with the Kp index mostly in the twos and threes. There was one excursion where the planetary Kp index hit 4 around 7-8 March but otherwise it has been relatively calm.
The maximum useable frequency (MUF) over a 3,000km path has exceeded 28MHz on most days. 14MHz was open to the Maldives via FT8 as late as 2200UTC on Tuesday, 10 March.
Next week, the stand-out item is a large, but relatively thin, coronal hole on the Sun, and the high-speed solar wind stream from this reached the Earth on Friday, 13 March. Expect the Kp index to rise and HF propagation, especially on northerly paths, to suffer.
The Space Weather Prediction Centre forecasts that the solar flux index will decline further to be around 110 in the coming week. After this weekend’s geomagnetic disturbance due to the coronal hole, the Kp index is forecast to be more settled with a predicted maximum Kp of 3.
Things may heat up later in the week with a predicted Kp of 4, rising to 6 on Saturday, 21 March. Expect reduced maximum usable frequencies and poorer HF propagation, particularly on polar paths.
VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO:
The current spell of changeable weather is likely to stay with us through the bulk of the coming week but there is a glimmer of hope for better conditions after midweek, with a suggestion of high pressure over northern Britain.
To begin with, this means that rain scatter, including snow in places, will be worth checking out on the GHz bands, but strong winds may test antennas at times.
The transition to high pressure should lift conditions a little but since it’s forming in a cold polar air mass, it may not be as good as it could be.
The 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest on Tuesday, 17 March will probably still be in the wet and windy period so there may be a rainscatter bonus if the rain is heavy enough to affect such a low GHz band.
Aircraft scatter will always be the best option for this band when tropo is poor. The 70MHz UK Activity Contest on Thursday, 19 March, may fare better for tropo in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Meteor scatter will offer up meagre rations as we remain between major showers. The April Lyrids are still a long way away. Aurora is still in the frame around the spring equinox so as usual, check for the Kp index moving up to 5 or higher.
Sporadic-E is not usually part of the story at this time of the year in these latitudes and, if anything is triggered, look to explore the path on digital modes first to see which directions are being favoured.
For EME, the conditions are poor for the coming week with the Moon declination negative but rising, not going positive until next Thursday. We continue with short Moon windows and low peak elevation, but with falling path losses.
While 144MHz sky noise is moderate to low in the coming week, Wednesday and Thursday see the Sun and Moon close in the sky, meaning high noise on the lower bands due to wider antenna beamwidths.
(Mike Terry, UK/BDXC)
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