As ham radio operators no matter what mode you operate one major contributing factor regarding success or failure is the Sun. Propagation reports can be found on the internet, some with cool pictures and others with just lines of data. Things such as solar flares, coronal mass ejection (CME), solar wind and the list goes on. Being able to look at propagation data and interpret it is beneficial. An understanding can help us realize that not all solar flares, CME and high solar wind can mean poor conditions. I found a great site that goes through many areas that make up a propagation report. At some points yes it can get into too much detail but overall I found it to be very informative.
Understanding propagation can be very interesting and also can help you understand the data that is shown.
Here is the LINK to a site that gives great information about propagation.

Here are some propagation sites: 

Solar Ham 

Current ham radio conditions 

Hello and welcome to the 547th installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts cover short topics including the return of Logbook of the World, gaming with FT-8, the RegreSSHion vulnerability that affects many systems, Nobara Linux 39, Linux running on Google Drive, the latest version of AllStar Link and much, much more. Thanks for listening and we hope you have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

My contest contacts

 This weekend was the IARU contest and you can participate in CW, SSB or both. As for me, it was CW only....surprise surprise. The solar weather can affect how radio operations in both a good way and a bad way. This weekend it was a bad way but that is ok as I tell myself the solar weather does not discriminate it treats all operators the same way. The advanced solar forecast prepared contesters for a rough ride but to add to it the Bz index, something we don't hear much about in Solar weather circles was deep in the negative direction. When you have poor solar weather and add in a -Bz index it just makes things worse. What it sounds like to a CW contester is one moment a signal is very decent and then gone and in most cases gone for some time. 

This is a challenge for contesters as when you hear a call sign, come back to them and get a report you generally have no luxury for repeats. If the anomaly happens mid-contact well you most likely cannot log the contact. I find during these conditions you have more stations contacting you more than once on the same band (called a DUPE). Because of the changing condition, you may think the station heard your exchange but they did not and may be asking you for a repeat and you can't hear them asking. So due to the poor conditions, they are not able to log your contact that you think was a solid contact. Whenever I have a station call me that has called me before and is in the log (DUPE) I  always work them again as you are not penalized for it. But there are a few that send "QSO BEFORE" and will not log the contact. 

Anyway, I digress....this year I was able to log more contacts (56) during very poor conditions compared to last year and better yet I almost doubled my score. Last year's score was 69,484 compared to 130,130 this year.  This contest starts on Saturday at 9 am local time and ends on Sunday at 9 am local time. I was up early on Sunday (5:15) to keep adding to the log. I am a morning person and up each day at 6 am so I was not too far off from my normal time.

The final results

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 195 is now available for download.

George replaces a defective FT-857d display with an economical new option. Emile’s Cheap Old Code. Tommy shows how to get your GMRS license and visits the new GigaParts Superstore. Terry, 2E0IPK visits with his RigExpert AA-230 Zoom analyzer.

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In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG, and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is a report from Ed Durrant DD5LP from Ham Radio Friedrichshafen.

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• ARRL Logbook of The World Returns to Service
• RSGB British Science Week Challenge
• MESAT1 Amateur Satellite in Orbit
• HamSCI Makes Significant Impact at the NSF's Annual CEDAR Workshop

Bleeping Computer reported on a Maine state filing by ARRL. The systems outage was caused by a ransomware attack (PDF download).

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.