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HF communications are affected by sunspots. Their number is growing with the new solar cycle #25. There are eight classifications of sunspots. You will find them below.

The different classifications

1. α – Alpha:
   A unipolar sunspot group.
2. β – Bèta:
   A sunspot group that has a positive and a negative polarity (or bipolar) with a simple division between the polarities.
3. γ – Gamma:
   A complex region in which the positive and negative polarities are so irregularly distributed that they can’t be classified as a bipolar Sunspot group.
4. β-γ – Bèta-Gamma:
   A bipolar sunspot group but complex enough so that no line can be drawn between spots of opposite polarity.
5. δ – Delta:
   The umbrae of opposite polarity in a single penumbra.
6. β-δ – Bèta-Delta:
   A sunspot group with a general beta magnetic configuration but contains one (or more) delta sunspots.
7. β-γ-δ – Bèta-Gamma-Delta:
   A sunspot group with a beta-gamma magnetic configuration but contains one (or more) delta sunspots.
8. γ-δ – Gamma-Delta
   A sunspot group with a gamma magnetic configuration but contains one (or more) delta sunspots.

Check out more info on sunspots at SpaceWeatherLive.com

HF Bulletin #3

Hold onto your HF hats!

Dust off that ICOM, that Kenwood, that FLEX and those home brew CW rigs, it looks like good band conditions are about to surprise us all.

ARRL bulletin has a research paper predicting a very strong sunspot cycle 25.

http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=current#toc04