Fantastic conditions on the bands last night

There was significant propagation late into the night last night on some of the higher bands. Having worked a couple of contacts into the United States at around 11.15pm on TWELVE METRES (yes, 12m!!!), I then nabbed Nicaragua on 15m CW, followed quickly by Mexico (XE) on 17m. Couldn't believe how lively the bands were so late into the night. One of the 12m contacts was in Utah, quite a distance I'd say, but even more remarkable given the time of night.

As I write this, the Solar Flux Index is 119 and the Sunspot Number is 103. The sun is absolutely crackling with spots. There are no fewer than SIX groups of sunspots right now (see image), so keep a listening ear, especially on the higher frequencies. 10 metres could open at any time.

At midnight I put out a CQ on 17m CW and got a whole pile of contacts from the USA, including three west coast QSOs, one from Washington State and two from California. It really was a fantastic night's propagation. But I had to retire to the bed because it had been a long day.

If you're around a HF radio, now would be a good time to switch it on!