Re: [HCDX]: Re: que. for prop. gurus

[Delibert3A@xxxxxxx]

It has not been my experience that high solar numbers necessarily mean poor 
tropical band DX.  DXing from the U.S. east coast, I find that the magnetic 
field is the main thing to watch.  When it's very quiet, propogation is 
usually good from PNG and Indonesia in our local morning, especially in the 
spring and fall.  (It has been observed by Bryant and Clark that the signals 
are strongest from the area on the equator where it's about 9 - 10 p.m. local 
time.)  When the field is disturbed, local morning propagation of Asians may 
be poor, or it may move to other regions, sometimes to the north (Vietnam, 
Laos, China) and sometimes to the West (Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, India, 
in fall and winter).  When there are major storms, weird things can happen, 
and some very unexpected stations from the Western Pacific may pop up.  

Reception of Indonesians is also possible on the East Coast in our local 
evening, from September to about April.  Best reception has been found to 
occur when there has been a major solar flare, but the magnetic shock has not 
yet arrived.  (Those conditions can produce some spectacular morning 
reception of Indonesians here also.)

Solar flux levels affect this too.  In my experience, when they are really 
low (75-100), the ionosphere seems almost dead, and I don't hear much from SE 
Asia even when the magnetic field is very quiet.  When the flux level gets up 
to 150 or more, the ionosphere comes alive.  But, when solar flux gets even 
higher, it contributes a level of background noise that can mask some weak 
signals.

There are some very good articles on tropical band propagation by John 
Bryant, Dave Clark, and others in the Proceedings series of books, produced 
by Fine Tuning in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  I think copies are still 
available, but I'm not sure where to get them.  Maybe someone reading this 
can contribute a web address?

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Art Delibert
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