2023 Results

2023 Conditions:

Solar Flux: 152

Friday, the day before QRPTTF, there was an M-class flare. No biggie, as by QRPTTF, the flare was long gone and any arriving CME was a day or two away. Theoretically, a solar flux of 152 should have yielded hot bands. However, this was also a proton flare, meaning Earth was constantly being showered with protons on Saturday. Protons cause high D-layer HF absorption. Remember, your signals must pass through the D-layer twice, attenuating our QRP signals to be much weaker than normal. Bands were rough, but quite a few stuck it out making QSOs, while others got discouraged.