TYPICAL DAILY FIELD DAY SCHEDULE - FWARC

Operator's Battle Plan based on projected solar conditions for June 2026

Time
06:00 PDT
13:00 UTC
08:00 PDT
15:00 UTC
10:00 PDT
17:00 UTC
12:00 PDT (Noon)
19:00 UTC
14:00 PDT
21:00 UTC
16:00 PDT
23:00 UTC
18:00 PDT
01:00 UTC
20:00 PDT
03:00 UTC
22:00 PDT
05:00 UTC
00:00 PDT
07:00 UTC
15M (21 MHz)
Waking Up
DX FOCUS (Transcontinental / Global)
Fading / Sporadic-E
Closed
20M (14 MHz)
Excellent (The Workhorse)
MIDDAY DEAD ZONE
(D-Layer Absorption)
Excellent (Prioritize DX)
Late Night Skip
40M (7 MHz)
Local NVIS
Weak / Deep NVIS
Local NVIS
Gray Line Skip!
Strong Cross-Country Skip
80M (3.5 MHz)
Closed (Complete Daytime Absorption)
High Noise / Fair
Strong Regional NVIS

PROPAGATION COLOR KEY

Excellent
Fair/Moderate
Weak/Challenging
Closed/Poor

TACTICAL ADVICE

CW & FT8: Use these modes when bands are Weak/Challenging to dig signals out of the noise.
SSB (Voice): Best utilized during "Excellent" openings to generate high contact rates.

WHAT DO THE SPACE WEATHER NUMBERS MEAN?

  • SFI (Solar Flux Index): Measures radio noise from the sun. Higher (150+) = Better F-layer ionization for 15m/20m DX.
  • Kp-Index (Planetary): Measures geomagnetic storms (0-9 scale). We want LOW (0-3). High numbers mean static, fading, and blocked polar paths.
  • A-Index: 24-hour average of geomagnetic activity. Below 10 indicates quiet, clear skies for radio waves.
  • SSN (Sunspots): More sunspots generally equal more solar flares and better long-distance propagation.
Propagation Notes: 
Welcome to the Field Day hub for tracking space weather and atmospheric behavior in real time. Radio propagation is the heartbeat of amateur radio, dictating exactly how far our HF signals can bend around the curvature of the Earth and which bands are actively opening up. Because ionospheric conditions fluctuate by the minute based on solar flares, sunspots, and geomagnetic activity, having the right forecasting dashboard is critical for making successful contacts. Explore the collection of live tracking widgets, space weather telemetry links, and detailed propagation maps below to gauge the current health of the bands and maximize your station's global reach.

Links to Space Weather

FWARC Propagation Ideas (fwarc.org): Hosted by the Federal Way Amateur Radio Club, this serves as a central hub linking to advanced regional tools like Seattle Propagation and VOCAP DX'pedition charts. It covers how space weather impacts the ability of radio operators to achieve milestones like the "Worked All States" award or execute remote DX'peditions.
​

Space Weather & Forecasting​

  • NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (swpc.noaa.gov): The official U.S. government source for real-time space weather data. Their Radio Communications Dashboard provides crucial measurements of solar wind speed, the 10.7cm solar radio flux, and issues warnings for solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and sudden ionospheric disturbances (R1-R5 scale) that cause radio blackouts.
  • NIST Radio Station WWV (nist.gov): The National Institute of Standards and Technology's high-power standard time and frequency station. Beyond broadcasting precise time, WWV transmits hourly geophysical alerts and solar indices. It also partners with HamSCI, broadcasting experimental chirps and tones specifically designed for crowd-sourced ionospheric research.

Propagation & Modeling Tools​

Real-Time Ham Radio Propagation Tools
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  • VOACAP Online for Ham Radio (voacap.com): A highly regarded point-to-point high frequency (HF) prediction engine. By modeling current solar conditions against your station's specific grid location, power, and antenna type, it charts an absolute mathematical probability of which HF bands will achieve reliable communications with any other quadrant on Earth.
  • DX QSLnet Propagation Dashboard (dx.qsl.net/propagation/): A real-time monitoring site aggregating the current Solar Flux Index (SFI), A-index, and K-index. It features a live Grey Line terminator map, allowing operators to track the high-efficiency sunrise/sunset boundaries where the signal-absorbing D-layer of the ionosphere rapidly dissolves.
  • ARRL Technical Reference (arrl.org): The national association for amateur radio’s educational portal explaining solar mechanics. This documentation explicitly teaches operators how various layers of the ionosphere (D, E, and F layers) behave under a high sunspot cycle, transforming solar radiation into a reflective mirror for shortwave signals.
AI Notice:  Some of these charts are created as infographics from a detailed prompt using Gemini-AI Pro.  At the present state of AI there is likely to be a 4-12% error rate.  These charts were all spot checked, but I suspect some errors got through.  

A fun AI Prompt  to generate the 3D Propagation chart. 
​Copy and paste the text into GeminiAI and see if it works...... (Hint: if you have a gmail account, log in and use the PRO version for free)

​🛠️ Corrected and Amended Two-Step Prompt: Real-Time Dynamic Plot
[STEP 1: DYNAMIC DATA FETCH] First, current, real-time solar indices (SFI, SSN, and Kp) must be fetched from an official, authoritative, and verifiable source, such as the NOAA/SWPC real-time data feeds or API (e.g., services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/). This fetch must provide dynamic integer or decimal values for three specific variables:
  • [SFI_REAL] (F10.7cm Solar Flux Index, e.g., 100)
  • [SSN_REAL] (Observed or smoothed Sunspot Number, e.g., 50)
  • [Kp_REAL] (Planetary K-Index, e.g., 1.5)
  • It must also provide the [CURRENT_DATE] in UTC format.All illustrative placeholder data and dates from image_67.png are discarded in favor of these fetched real values. The illustrative date "June 21, 2026" and data "SFI: 113 | SSN: 55 | Kp: 1.67" must not be generated.
[STEP 2: 3D PROPAGATION PLOT GENERATION] Next, a professional, clean, multidimensional 3D scatter plot graph is generated, building on the visual structure of image_67.png. It is titled prominently across the top: 'MULTIDIMENSIONAL 3D PROPAGATION PLOT: SWEET SPOTS'. The plot is set against a light grey background within a grid-lined cube volume. Axis labels are precisely rendered: Y-axis (Vertical): 'SSN (SUNSPOT NUMBER)' spanning from 0 to 200+; Front X-axis (Horizontal, depth, left): 'SFI (SOLAR FLUX INDEX)' spanning from 50 to 220+; Right Z-axis (Horizontal, width, right): 'Kp (PLANETARY K-INDEX)' spanning from 0 to 9. The plot volume contains thousands of glowing spherical data points defining dense clusters. A prominent cluster of Red spheres ('EXCELLENT' propagation) is concentrated in the peak region of high SFI (>180) and high SSN (>160) with low Kp (<3). Yellow spheres ('FAIR') surround it and fill the moderate SFI/SSN regions. Blue spheres ('WEAK') scatter through the rest, and a significant cloud of Black spheres ('POOR') dominates the higher Kp range (>6) across all other factors. Crucially, a distinct, semi-transparent data 'cloud' (panel) is present within the 3D volume. It is positioned precisely within the grid volume at the exact coordinates defined by the dynamic variables fetched in STEP 1: X=[SFI_REAL], Y=[SSN_REAL], Z=[Kp_REAL]. The panel's illuminated text reads: 'CURRENT DATA ([CURRENT_DATE] UTC)'. Below this title: 'SFI: [SFI_REAL] | SSN: [SSN_REAL] (Observed) | Kp: [Kp_REAL]'. (This text dynamically populates with the real data, replacing all illustrative placeholders.) In the top right corner, a clear legend box states 'COLOR KEY (PROPAGATION QUALITY)' with labeled rows: 🔴 EXCELLENT, 🟡 FAIR, 🔵 WEAK, ⚫ POOR. All labels and data are legible and professional. Small text at the bottom right reads: 'WA7FW (Grid: CN87)'.