June 1991 Forecast -- Flux Range 161 - 251

by Roy, AD5Q - Houston, Texas

It is late spring, and 15 Meters is supposed to be at the peak of its season. All is not right, and the awesome conditions I have been promising y'all have not materialized. Instead, we get awesome solar flares, geomagnetic storms and aurora borealis visible all the way to Florida. When the W4's on 40 start echoing like Russians, you know something is wrong on the sun. Fortunately the sun rotates, and this disturbance is on the other side at this writing. It will come around again, but hopefully not until after Field Day.

As things return to normal, we can look for great openings on 15 to Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa in the evenings. If these openings fail us on 15, we will still have them on 20. Europe should also be open for much of the day on 15, with openings to the Far East in the late morning to around noon. Since our solar fluxes are generally lower this year, these openings will be less reliable than in the past few years. Some long path signals are coming through in the first three hours after sunrise, and this westerly path should be watched for exotic African calls. Most DX activity, however, is on 20. As we move into summer, low MUFs will become more of a factor for 15 meter day paths. Since 10 is wholly out of season, summer DX activity will mostly be concentrated on one band: 20. No bands are really good for day path DX in midsummer.

To get the most out of 20, tune carefully across the band in the evening for calls from Africa and the Mid-East (most of the activity will be from Europe and Russia). If you are up after midnight, look for Pacific and Asian DX. The most spectacular openings, however, are during the first two hours after sunrise. Indian Ocean stations come from the southwest, Africa from the west (both long path), and all of Asia from the northwest. The NW route is a grey line path, and is open beyond Asia - to the south Indian Ocean and Antarctica.


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