ARRL International DX Contest — SSB¶
SSB · ARRL · March 07–07, 2026
Storm Impact: Geomagnetic storm developed during the contest
Kp rose from quiet (1.0) on Saturday morning to active (4.67) by Sunday afternoon. This provided a natural experiment — same bands, same operators, changing geomagnetic conditions. The storm's impact on high-band propagation is the centerpiece of this analysis.
Kp trajectory: 1.0 → 4.67 (Sunday morning)
Contest Overview¶
| Contest Window | 2026-03-07 00:00 — 2026-03-08 23:59 UTC |
| Analysis Window | 2026-03-06 — 2026-03-09 (±24h) |
| Mode | SSB |
| SFI | 135–143 |
| Kp Range | 1.0–4.67 |
| Primary Source | PSKR signatures |
Key Findings¶
- 20m was the dominant band both days — strong worldwide propagation at SFI 135+
- Storm onset visible in high-band SNR degradation Sunday afternoon
- 15m and 10m showed clear sensitivity to rising Kp — openings shortened on Day 2
- 40m and 80m relatively unaffected by the storm — low bands more resilient to Kp disturbance
- Higher SFI (135 vs 110 for CW weekend) improved high-band openings before the storm hit
- SFI 135–143 still below March 2023–2025 average (~159) — cycle declining but high bands well-supported
Resources¶
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| Full Analysis Notebook | View on GitHub |
| Contest Dataset | Download SQLite |
| IONIS Jupyter | All Notebooks |
The notebook contains the complete analysis with interactive charts: solar timeline, band activity heatmaps, geographic reach maps, day/night classification, SNR distributions, and historical context. The SQLite dataset contains all PSKR signatures from the analysis window — download it to run the notebook locally or explore the data yourself.
Analysis powered by IONIS — 14 billion propagation observations, 80 MCP tools, and a neural network that learned HF physics from the data.