Copasetic Flow

 This week I spent some time tightening up the workflow for comparing F2 ionospheric data across different POTA outings. It turns out documentation really does matter. By writing things down, I’ve not only made the manual process clearer but also pushed the automated flow forward. With GPT-5’s help on documenting proton and electron flux plots, and my own notes on numeric F2 graphs along QSO paths, the project is steadily becoming easier to repeat and share. I put in a little bit of time working on being able to easily compare F2 data for different POTA outings this morning. It turns out documentation really does matter, so I've been focusing a bit more on it. I have a number of tools that allowed me to pull in F2 data quickly. This week I've been trying to spend time pulling them into an automated flow. As I've implemented this flow, I've discovered that I haven't taken the time to document the tools I've already built.  I asked GPT5 to document the solar prot...

Getting back to that Argentina call. One thing KO6BTY pointed out was that the FoF2 numbers didn't look normal. She was correct to an extent. They definitely didn't look like they did a few  months ago. Early morning UTC time, the critical frequency numbers looked like this Critical Frequency at time of QSO to LW2DO in Argentina A few months ago, in February though, they looked like this at roughly the same time of day. Critical Frequency map in February of 2025 a few hours earlier in the day Patterns in the F2 Layer If you're curious how she spotted the difference quickly, we've identified features that are usually on the map, the 'goose', and the 'face.' The Goose The Goose is characterized in profile with it's beak usually outlined in blue. It's circled by the green line above. The Face The Face is perhaps a bit more obvious. Again, it's circled in green. The two low critical frquency zones, (black regions), form the eyes. The black spot ...