What happened ?

[G0GQK]

There's a dirty great sunspot nine times bigger than Earth, the count has reached 86, the A & K are low and the bands are as bad as ever, so what's gone wrong ? Must be the wrong kind of sunspot, but the experts say there's going to be a blackout on Friday or Saturday, just like the old days.

G0GQK

[AG3Y]

"nine times bigger than Earth" is just a mild breeze on the surface of the Sun! I tried to get out with a small refractor and my projection screen to see if I could pick it out. No dice!

Things don't really pop until there are about 20 or so spots the size that THAT one. I'm not sure how long you have been licensed, but you haven't lived until the sun looks like it has been peppered with buckshot !

[KC9ECI]

From Spaceweather,

A series of eruptions on Dec. 16th sent two and perhaps three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the general direction of our planet. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras when the clouds arrive beginning on Dec. 18th or 19th.

Might want to keep an ear on 6M and 2M for a little AU.

[N0SYA]

the sun faerted in our general direcion

[K7MH]

the sun faerted in our general direcion

That's about it.
SF:87 isn't much to talk about when 68 is considered the zero point.
Wake me up when it gets to 125 so I can warm up the amplifier.

[G7VQE]

I'm with G0GQK and if I had actually paid for my licence would be considering a partial refund.

We've got a decent sized sunspot at last and apparently it's the correct polarity and the faert it emitted was of a reasonable strength as it increased the solar flux so why am not able to talk on 15 metres as I was a month ago?

Please don't remind me of how fantastic things were back in cycle 21 and 22 with its double peak as then we also had days when the sun was a bit too loud and caused blackouts that lasted days.....too much solar wind making the hobby impossible....still did give a chance to go outside for a breather and maybe work on the antenna I guess.

Anyway I've had two days off work with little or no skip and I've got to work this weekend so there's bound to be an improvement in conditions I guess.

Dave