All time UTCARRL Propagation Report update
We've now observed sunspots continuously for the past 30 days, certainly a turnaround from the quiet conditions of the past few years. In fact, in ten weeks we have seen only three days with no sunspots, on December 25, January 6 and January 19. This is a little over 4% no-sunspot days, a nice contrast with all of 2009, with over 71% days with no sunspots. Sunspot group 1049 emerged on Wednesday Feb 17, and it is growing.
The minimum non-zero sunspot number is 11. This is because the numbers are derived from the number of sunspot groups, plus areas inside the groups. Each group counts for 10, so the minimum sunspot number is 11, and the minimum sunspot number for at least two sunspot groups is 22.
In 2009 only 87 days (23.8%) had sunspot numbers greater than 11, and 21 of those days were in December. Only 43 days (11.8%) had a sunspot number greater than 15 (14 of those in December), and only 26 days in 2009 had a sunspot number of 23 or more (none had 22).
Since the first of the year, average weekly sunspot numbers were 14.6, 26.4,
18.6, 28, 14.6, 43.3, and 38.7. Sunspot numbers for February 11 through 17 were 64, 38, 37, 28, 27, 28, and 49 with a mean of 38.7. 10.7 cm flux was 94.2, 95.5, 94.1, 89.4, 87.6, 86.8, and 86.9 with a mean of 90.6. Estimated planetary A indices were 5, 6, 3, 4, 14, 9 and 4 with a mean of 6.4. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 4, 4, 2, 3, 8, 11 and 2 with a mean of 4.9"
Here in Melbourne, sporting capital of the world, there continues to be excellent openings on 11 MHz in our post sunrise period, in the window 2000 to 2100, dominated by shortpath propagation from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Longpath from the Americas has also been in evidence.
This is a summary of key occupancies observed on Feb 19, 2010, 2000 to 2100:
11510 EGYPT R. Cairo English to 2030*
11540 EGYPT R. Cairo Arabic
11550 USA WEWN Spanish (longpath)
11565 USA WYFR German (longpath)
11605 RWANDA DW Kigali German
11625 VATICAN VR SMG 2015
11650 AUSTRALIA RA Shepparton English 11660 11880
11665 USA WYFR Polish
11720 VIETNAM VOV East Sea service Vietnamese
11725 NZ RNZI English
11760 CUBA RHC English (longpath)
11770 CUBA RHC Arabic (longpath)
11775 ANGUILLA University Network English (longpath)
11820 S. ARABIA BSKSA Arabic
11865 CANADA RCI Sackville *2000 Arabic (longpath)
11900 MARIANAS RFA Tinian Mandarin
11915 S. ARABIA BSKSA Arabic
11975 N. ANTILLES VOA Bonaire English (longpath)
12030 SPAIN REE Arabic
(Boc Padula, Melbourne, Australia)
Amateur radio special events
Maldives-8Q. Joerg, OE6VHF will be QRV as 8Q7JK from Thulhagiri Island, IOTA AS-013from February 23 to March 5. Activity will be on 40 to 10 meters. QSL to home call.
Malts-9H. DL4HG and DL5XAT are QRV as 9H3TX from Gozo, IOTA EU-023, until February 24. This includes an entry in the ARRL DX CW contest. QSL via DL5XAT.
Burundi-9U. Operators DL3KBQ, DL2RSI, DH2KI and DJ2VO will be QRV as 9UXEV, 9U1RSI, 9U1KI and 9U1VO, respectively, from Bujumbura from February 22 to March 6. They will operate up to four stations on all HF bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL direct to home calls.
Bahrain-A9. Dave, EI3IO is QRV as A92IO from Sar until August 2011. Activity is on 80 to 10 meters. QSL to home call.
Morocco-CN. Mat, MJ0ASP is QRV as CN2MR until February 26. He is active on 40 to 10 meters, with a preference on the newer bands, using only CW. This includes an entry in the ARRL DX CW contest. QSL to home call. (ARLD 007 DX News)
Blog Logs
India, 4920, All India Radio-Chennai, 0105-0115. Hindu comments and occasionally a female comments too. Signal sounds fair to good this evening. (Chuck Bolland, FL)
India, 5010, AIR-Thiruvananthap, 0117-0130. Signal weak and getting beatup with noise. Still noted announcer's Hindi comments. (Chuck Bolland, FL)
South Africa, 3320, Radio Sonder Grense, 0121-0130. Presumed announcer's in Afrikaans. Fair signal quality. (Chuck Bolland, FL)
Zambia, 4965, CVC International, 0113-0125. Religious sermon over piano music. I think I can hear yelling from the audience as the male preaches. Signal was fair
(Chuck Bolland, FL)
Pirates Week Podcast
PW022110 DOWNLOAD 24MB
Low bit rate file DOWNLOAD 14MB
No need for a broadcast version, this week is clean. Download audio file (PW022110.mp3)mealy mouthed unpronounceable rambling monologues? There’s an app for that!
Turn an old junk All American 5 radio into an AM broadcast band transmitter.
Pirates in the news this week include VIVO at the Olympics taken off air- news story from the Blog The Hook. Radio free Noggin Cove in Newfoundland has also been ordered to shut down by the Canadian Authorities. Several notices of unlicensed operation were issued this last week. Chilean Activists Seek De-Criminalization of Pirate Radio.
Select postings from the Free Radio Network, HF Underground and note stations logged per the Free Radio Weekly Off Air Recordings include the stations of: WPDR, Voice of Next Thursday, WMOM and Pirate Radio Boston. from Science at NASA comes word of a solar app. Background music from the Podsafe Music Network by the artists; paulina logan, the jackass-penguin show and mario tomic
Thanks for listening (Pirates Week Podcast)
Radio Damascus back online
After being for a while off-line, it is with great pleasure that I can announce the reappearance of Radio Damascus on the internet. You can download the audio recording of the daily program of Radio Damascus on the internet at the following direct links :
www.syriaonline.sy/radio.php or at http://www.radio-damascus.net/
Radio Damascus' English, Spanish and German program are now also available as a
podcast :
http://radiodamascusenglish.podomatic.com (English program)
http://aquidamasco.podomatic.com (Spanish program)
http://radio700.eu/podcasts/damaskus/damaskus.xml (German program)
You can add the Radio Damascus' podcasts to your podcasts in Apple's Itunes and take it with you on your Ipod or other media player as an MP3 file.
The being off-line of Radio Damascus for some time was due to an upgrade of the main server at RTV Syria where the Radio Damascus files are hosted. The replacement of the server took longer as foreseen but now you are able to listen again to the program in digital audio quality.
Furthermore, the times and frequencies of Radio Damascus are as folows :
Schedule:
1600-1700 Turkish daily 9.330 Khz, 12.085 Khz and satellite
1700-1800 Russian daily 9.330 Khz, 12.085 Khz and satellite
1800-1900 German daily 9.330 Khz, 12.085 Khz and satellite
1900-2000 French daily 9.330 Khz, 12.085 Khz and satellite
2000-2100 English daily on satellite
2100-2200 English daily 9.330 Khz, 12.085 Khz and satellite
2200-2300 Spanish daily 9.330 Khz, 12.085 Khz and satellite
783 Khz Mediumwave :
1600 - 1830 Hebrew
1830 - 1900 Russian
Satellite
Hot Bird at 13.0°E : 12380 Mhz
Nilesat at 7.0°W : 11823 Mhz
Badr / Arabsat at 26.0°E : 12054 Mhz
Asiasat 2 at 100.5° E : 3820 Mhz
Shortwave
9.330 Khz / 31 meter band and 12.085 Khz / 25 meter band
Mediumwave
783 Khz
Postal address:
Radio Damascus
P.O. Box 4702
Damascus
Syrian Arab Republic
www.radio-damascus.net
email: radiodamascusenglish@yahoo.com
Kris Jansen, belgium/R Damascus/HCDX)
WRTH National Radio updates
Effective 19 February 2010 at:
www.wrth.com/updates_national.html