A Solar Lesson

I worked at the GOTA station that our local radio club set up to celebrate the anniversary of Hernando DeSoto's first winter encampment in the new world.  I had a great time, but we were running the special event station and getting very few contacts.   The Club President, Jerry, a very knowledgable individual gave a short lesson on the sun and band conditions.  I am going to try and write down what I remember.  there was way more than this and I really need to learn more.



Ever see one of these charts before.  I have but really only looked at the right hand side.  For a new ham, maybe that is enough, but what do these numbers mean.
SFI - Solar Flux index -  The higher the better -  if is not 100+ propagation is dead.  Really want it
               to be 150+
A - A Index - 0 - 100 -Lower is better
K - K Index - 0 -9   -  Lower is better   -  Above 7 is S9 noise
    Generally the higher the K and the A the noisier the band
In general you want the SFI to be greater than 180
In general if A < 8 and K < 3  then E-W propagation should be working
In general if A < 8 and K > 3 then N-S propagation should be working

Now the X-Ray and Ptn (proton) and elc (electron)  Flux numbers.  This gives indications about noise as well and HF blackouts.   X-Ray number should be A, C, M for there to be a good band.  An X event means there is a good chance of a HF blackout.  (this is discussing solar flares).

This is where I start to draw a blank.   More research is needed, but this should wet some appetites.