Copasetic Flow

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 ...

  While analyzing the skip path of a a 5-watt QSO I made last week from the San Francisco to Argentina with Project TouCans, I stumbled across a set of NOAA resources that completely changed how I look at ionospheric conditions. From real-time aurora dashboards to animated MUF forecasts and electron flux data, these tools offer hams powerful insights into propagation—and some surprises along the way. I made a grey line QSO from the campus of City College San Francisco to Argentina with our 5-watt Project TouCans rig last week. Last night, KO6BTY and I found ourselves deep in the rabbit hole of ionospheric conditions. What started as curiosity about the Kp index and whether aurora activity might have influenced the QSO's skip path, led us to discover some powerful NOAA resources. From aurora dashboards and global ionosphere forecasts to animated MUF predictions and GOES electron flux data, these tools give ham radio operators new ways to understand HF propagation, F2 layer behavior...

I had the RF out leads on TouCans vertical reversed. The fix led to a very fun radio day with correlated data and radio events. In the past, when TouCans was a dipole, both RF out lines, RF+ and GND, were attached to antenna wires. Now, one wire goes up a carbon fiber mast forming a vertical antenna. The other lies coiled on the ground near the rig serving as a counterpoise . A few days back, while fixing a shorted power supply lead on the Tuna Topper amplifier component, I realized that the RF+ output port was attached to the counterpoise. I reversed it so it went to the vertical. It didn't seem to make a huge difference from the home QTH Those are pretty common snr numbers from the house. Friday though, there were rumblings of greatness. TouCans handily made a POTA activation followed by a SOTA activation where it was spotted in Japan on the RBN three times. Sunday I made a Juan Bautista activation from Civic Center that was remarkable, I'll write more about that later. The...