Last week was characterised by settled geomagnetic conditions, but a relatively low solar flux index. The Kp index hit 5.33 on the 6 and 7 July but was otherwise around 1 or 2 for the rest of the week. These settled conditions were helpful to HF propagation, although the maximum usable frequency over a 3,000km […]

It looks like the Space Weather Prediction Centre, which supplies the forecasts for NOAA, were overly cautious last week. Despite predicting geomagnetic disturbances, we had quite a calm week. The Kp index rose to 3.33 on a few occasions, but that was it. We ended up with settled geomagnetic conditions and a solar flux index […]

The last week was good from a geomagnetic disturbance point of view. Up until Wednesday, the 25th, the Kp index had not been higher than 3.67, and had mostly been in the ones and twos. This helped HF propagation to a great extent. Sunspots have been present with the solar flux index sitting at 120 […]

Last week we mentioned a large coronal hole on the Sun that might cause problems. The hole is so large that it is still Earth-centric seven days later. We had expected the hole to increase the Kp index due to the solar wind emanating from it. However, as of Thursday, 19 June, conditions remained quiet […]