RSGB
GB2RS News Team
March 7, 2025
We started last week with geomagnetic disturbances that saw the Kp index rise to a maximum of 5.67 on the 28 February and then hover around the 4.5 mark for the next couple of days.
As predicted, the rest of the week went quite well, with the Kp index in the range of one to four.
The solar flux index fell from a maximum of 210 on the 23 February to a low of 140 on the 2 March. It then climbed back to 160 on the 4 March. Over the past week we have had no X-class and only one M-class solar flare which was on the 5 March.
As we head into next week, it looks like all the sunspots in the Sun’s northern hemisphere have now departed. Nevertheless, the southern hemisphere is still supplying lots of spots so don’t panic just yet!
HF conditions have been quite good. VK6IF and VK6IA in Western Australia were booming in on 28MHz USB on the morning of Thursday the 6 March, as was VK9CU on the Cocos-Keeling Islands.
Nigel, VP8TXF and Ian, VP8CIW have been operating from the Falkland Islands ahead of this weekend’s Commonwealth Contest and have been worked from the UK on 20m-10m. They are there until the 10 March, so get in quick.
Other DX to be worked this week includes VU4AX Andaman Islands, 6Y7EI Jamaica, PJ7AA Sint Maarten Island, 4S7KKG Sri Lanka, TY5C Benin, 6W7/ON4AVT Warang Senegal, RI1ANE Antarctica and H44MS Solomon Islands.
Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will start off around 150 and may then climb to 185 by the 16 March. A large coronal hole became Earth-facing on the 6 March, which may result in unsettled geomagnetic conditions this weekend, the 8 and 9 March.
It looks like we can expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions around the 10 to the 16 March, with a maximum predicted Kp index of five.
VHF and up :
The weather divides into two segments; the first, from the middle of last week through to the middle of next week, is rather changeable with low pressure nearby bringing rain or showers and potential for rain scatter on the GHz bands.
Eventually, the unsettled weather ends with a cold northerly on Tuesday 11 March and this leads to a new high building from Wednesday into the weekend of the 15 and 16 March.
This is good news for Tropo and could possibly be of benefit to those in the UK 70cm Activity Contest on Tuesday the 11 March in western UK, but more generally for the FT8 70cm Activity Contest on Wednesday and the 50MHz UK Activity Contest on Thursday evening.
We are still between major meteor showers and therefore must rely upon random activity for now. The next shower of note is the Lyrids on the 21 and the 22 April, so we have a while to go yet.
The solar activity has continued to produce a regular supply of auroral alerts and fluttery signals on the LF bands, but with a lot of cloud in northwestern areas and southern parts just marginally out of reach for any naked-eye auroras. A few digital camera pictures did surface on the web.
Keep an eye open just in case though. Remember Kp equalling five or greater is where we need to be.
Lastly, the Sporadic-E prospects are still relatively low with only the odd minor blip up to around a Sporadic-E critical frequency of 5 to 7MHz, often around the middle of the day. This contrasts with the morning and evening windows in the main season. It is enough to promote interest in the 10 or 6m bands, but almost certainly a fleeting moment.
EME path losses rise all this coming week and moon declination falls with associated shortening Moon windows and reducing peak Moon elevation. The best results will therefore be early in the week. 144MHz sky noise is moderate this weekend, falling to low in the week commencing the 10 March.
https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/propagation-news/2025/03/07/propagation-news-9-march-2025/
(BDXC)
.JPG)
