Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: The first 6 days of the December 14-20 reporting week saw no sunspots. On December 20 one new sunspot group appeared (2692) with a sunspot number of 16. The average daily sunspot number decreased from 6.9 to 2.3 over the previous reporting week.

Average solar flux increased from 71 to 71.5, the average planetary A index went from 7.4 to 9.4, and mid-latitude A index rose from 5.5 to 6.1. Solar flux
for the next 45 days is predicted to be 75 on December 21-28; 74 on December 29-January 1; 76 on January 2-5; 74 on January 6-13; 72 on January 14-19; 74 on
January 20-28; 76 on January 29-February 1, and 74 on February 2-3.

The predicted planetary A index is 5 on December 21; 8 on December 22-23; 5 on December 24-26; 10 and 8 on December 27-28; 5 on December 29-30; 10, 25, 15, and 10 on December 31-January 3; 5 on January 4-6; 10, 12, and 8 on January 7-9; 5 on January 10-12; 22 on January 13-14; 20, 16, 10, and 8 on January 15-18; 5 on January 19-22; 12 and 8 on January 23-24; 5 on January 25-26; 10, 25, 15, and 10 on January 27-30; 5 on January 31-February 2, and 10 on February
3.

Send me your reports and observations.

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Getting It Right

The story "Radio Anniversaries Abound in December," in the December 14 edition of The ARRL Letter contained incorrect information about the location of Marconi's receiving station in Newfoundland. Marconi set up near Cabot Tower in
a "fever hospital."

The 2018 ARRL RTTY Roundup announcement in the December 2017 issue of QST includes an incorrect log submission deadline. The correct date is January 12, 2018.

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Just Ahead in Radiosport

* December 24 --RAEM Contest (CW)
* December 26 -- DARC Christmas Contest (CW, phone)
* December 27 -- SKCC Sprint (CW)
* December 30 -- RAC Winter Contest (CW, phone)
* December 30-31 -- Stew Perry Topband Challenge (CW)
* December 31 -- Bogor Old and New Contest (Phone)
* January 1 -- AGB New Year Snowball Contest (CW, phone, digital)
* January 1 -- SARTG New Year RTTY Contest
* January 1 -- AGCW Happy New Year Contest (CW)
* January 1 -- AGCW VHF/UHF Contest (CW)
* January 1 -- QRP ARCI New Year's Day Sprint (CW)
* January 1-7 -- All IQRP Quarterly Marathon (CW, phone, digital)
* January 2 -- ARS Spartan Sprint (CW)
* January 3 -- UKEICC 80-Meter Contest (Phone)
* January 3-7 -- Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest
* January 4 -- NRAU 10-Meter Activity Contest (CW, phone, digital)

See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth reporting on Amateur Radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest Update via your ARRL member profile e-mail preferences.

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Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

* January 6 -- New York City-Long Island Section Convention, Brookville,
New York
* January 13 -- Georgia ARES Convention, Forsyth, Georgia
* January 19-20 -- North Texas Section Convention, Forest Hill, Texas
* January 20 -- GARS TECHFEST Convention, Lawrenceville, Georgia
* January 21-27 -- Quartzfest Convention, Quartzsite, Arizona
* January 26-27 -- Delta Division Convention, Jackson, Mississippi
* February 3 -- South Carolina State Convention, North Charleston, South
Carolina
* February 3 -- Virginia State Convention (Frostfest), Richmond, Virginia
* February 9-11 -- Florida State Convention (HamCation), Orlando, Florida
* February 16-17 -- Southwestern Division Convention, Yuma, Arizona
* February 24 -- TECHCON Conference, Winter Haven, Florida
* February 24 -- New Mexico TechFest, Albuquerque, New Mexico
* February 24 -- Vermont State Convention, S. Burlington, Vermont

Find conventions and hamfests in your area.

____________________________________________________________________________


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____________________________________________________________________________


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Copyright (C) 2017 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission.

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Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it wrong...
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* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)