Propagation and Monitoring Report from Melbourne

Even though Sunspot Cycle 24 has commenced, solar activity has plunged to
its lowest level for several months, with the 10.7 cm solar flux down to
76, and the daily Smoothed Sunspot Number (SSN) at an abysmally low 17.

This means that the Sun is in quiet mode - it is generally believed that the
end of the quiet period will occur when the SSN exceed 30.

So, multi-hop HF transmissions over darkness, or partially darkness
regions, on frequencies above about 14 MHz will be unreliable until the SSN
reaches 30.

Here in Melbourne, there is continued good reception in our afternoons, in
the window 0400 to 0500, on 15 MHz, for daylight transmission paths from
Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

This monitoring summary of December 23 will be of interest:

15075 INDIA Hindi
15195 INDIA Hindi
15210 INDIA Farsi
15230 SRI LANKA RL-Iranawela
15260 IRAN Swahili
15285 S. ARABIA Swahili
15290 TAIWAN RTI Chinese
15335 THAILAND R. Azada, Udorn, Dari
15360 OMAN BBC Al Seels English
15390 CHINA CNR1
15540 THAILAND VOA-Udorn Tibetan
15580 BOTSWANA VOA English
15600 SRI LANKA DW-Trincomalee English
15665 CHINA CRI-Kashi Russian
" MARIANAS RFA Chinese
15690 SRI LANKA R. Farda, Iranawela, Farsi
" CHINA CRI

The 22 mb (13 MHz) is also rather good in our post-sunrise period in the
window 1800 to 1900, with these occupancies noted on Dec 23:

13570 USA WINB English
13590 ZAMBIA CVC English
13660 GERMANY WYFR-Wertachtal English
13635 SRI LANKA VOA-Iranawela English
13810 FRANCE BVB-Issoudin, interesting relay usage, Somali
13830 USA WEWN Spanish

Merry Christmas from Melbourne, where the traditional Boxing Day Cricket
Test between
Australia and England will be an affair to remember, in front of 95,000
fans! Where else would you see Mexican Waves, huge bouncing beach balls! The
early betting has Australia $2.40, England $2.85, and draw $3.25.

Bob Padula