X-flare 'Wipeout'...

[Robb]

Sure you all must be aware already; but thought you might want the details too:
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

 

[vkrules]

Band went out like someone flipped a switch. I was working a zl and a w4 both stations 30 over 9 the w4 went mid sentence, 30 0ver to gone with no warning.The zl came back for a few seconds s1, then gone.Quiet for the rest of the day. Thought it had to be a flare.

 

[ghutch]

Robb .... That is a great visual display of what a flare pointed towards earth will do. I read about one flare so strong back in the days of telegraph communication(1800's) some lines were set ablaze and some operators reported seeing "ball lightning" come into the shack and off the ends of the wires. One of that magnitude should it happen today, would wipe out a lot of modern radio computer equipment, cpu's in auto etc.

 

[doctor]

FLARE

Interesting, I was on ARMY MARS and all the stations except one disappeared entirely, and same with the other nets nothing.



DOCTOR 795

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Indeed solar flares and CME's wreck havoc on the HF bands however it is a good time to check out some Aurora activity on 2m and 6m.

 

[Beetle]

Robb .... That is a great visual display of what a flare pointed towards earth will do. I read about one flare so strong back in the days of telegraph communication(1800's) some lines were set ablaze and some operators reported seeing "ball lightning" come into the shack and off the ends of the wires. One of that magnitude should it happen today, would wipe out a lot of modern radio computer equipment, cpu's in auto etc.

Hanes and Fruit of the Loom stock would skyrocket, though. It all evens out...

 

[IMD262]

Indeed solar flares and CME's wreck havoc on the HF bands however it is a good time to check out some Aurora activity on 2m and 6m.

They can create some strange conditions on 10M as well.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

They can create some strange conditions on 10M as well.

My experience has been that 10m is usually the first to go. There may be a bit of "strange stuff" going on but usually it just dies. 6m comes alive with raspy Aurora fluttery signals and 2m picks right up as well. SSB is usually hard to copy and even CW is raspy sounding a lot of tbe time.

 

[Shockwave]

Having worked several skip cycles over the years I'm beginning to realize we are likely at the beginning of the end. I looked at the solar cycle and asked myself "how many years do you think skywave is going to last? Aren't we coming up on about 4 years of conditions? No doubt these flares cause major disruptions on HF but I have been seeing a downward decline in DX activity for months and figured I'd mention it because the inevitable is on its way.

 

[Mudfoot]

I've been concentrating on 6 meter CW last few days.

 

[Robb]

M5 solar flare over the last 24 hours.

http://spaceweather.com/

 

[vkrules]

Having worked several skip cycles over the years I'm beginning to realize we are likely at the beginning of the end. I looked at the solar cycle and asked myself "how many years do you think skywave is going to last? Aren't we coming up on about 4 years of conditions? No doubt these flares cause major disruptions on HF but I have been seeing a downward decline in DX activity for months and figured I'd mention it because the inevitable is on its way.

I've seen 4 , and i thought I'm getting old. Agree about it winding down.

 

[Robb]

Interesting note:

May 24th might hold some interesting propagation due to a likely massive meteor shower from debris of an old comet trail.
Might want to mark your calender.

Last time this happened was a few years ago (2009?).
Talked to Australia and South Pacific (S-9++) and many other locations until the wee hours of the morning. . .

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Interesting note:

May 24th might hold some interesting propagation due to a likely massive meteor shower from debris of an old comet trail.
Might want to mark your calender.

Last time this happened was a few years ago (2009?).
Talked to Australia and South Pacific (S-9++) and many other locations until the wee hours of the morning. . .

Purely coincidental. Meteor trails leave ionized paths that only last seconds at most. A REALLY good burn will support communications for half a minute at best. Meteor scatter comms take place on VHF and UHF usually with 6m being the usual lower limit. Most ping jockeys use high speed CW or data modes. If you monitor the FM broadcast band sometimes you can hear the occasional word blurt out of nowhere if you are on a free channel.

Speaking of ping jockeys: Ping Jockey Central by NØUK

 

[Robb]

Purely coincidental. Meteor trails leave ionized paths that only last seconds at most. A REALLY good burn will support communications for half a minute at best. Meteor scatter comms take place on VHF and UHF usually with 6m being the usual lower limit. Most ping jockeys use high speed CW or data modes. If you monitor the FM broadcast band sometimes you can hear the occasional word blurt out of nowhere if you are on a free channel.

Speaking of ping jockeys: Ping Jockey Central by NØUK

Supposed to be a long shower over 24-36 hours; could be big or a fizzle:

ScienceCasts: NASA on the Lookout for a New Meteor Shower - YouTube