hamateur 1953 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 (edited) Earlier this year a rather large E layer of ionisation developed following nine M class flares. 3576 appears to be very active in m class and if it keeps this up today ( Sunday Feb 4 2024) we may again see our six metre ( 50 mhz) band open again after local sunset along our southern tier states. Maybe even 144 if there is sufficient ionisation. I am hoping that @Drax Spacex and @KW2P are around to see the event unfold or fizzle like SC 24. Hahaha. Edited February 4 by hamateur 1953 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newbie Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 25 minutes ago, hamateur 1953 said: Earlier this year a rather large E layer of ionisation developed following nine M class flares. 3576 appears to be very active in m class and if it keeps this up today ( Sunday Feb 4 2024) we may again see our six metre ( 50 mhz) band open again after local sunset along our southern tier states. Maybe even 144 if there is sufficient ionisation. I am hoping that @Drax Spacex and @KW2P are around to see the event unfold or fizzle like SC 24. Hahaha. @hamateur 1953 Exciting that you may get another opportunity to observe the impact of sustained flaring! The last barrage of M class flares showed a notable impact on E layer ionisation, suggesting promising conditions for HF and VHF communication. If the current solar activity continues enhanced opportunities for radio enthusiasts may ensue. Fingers crossed for a lively Sunday evening on the airwaves! -. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Newbie said: @hamateur 1953 Exciting that you may get another opportunity to observe the impact of sustained flaring! The last barrage of M class flares showed a notable impact on E layer ionisation, suggesting promising conditions for HF and VHF communication. If the current solar activity continues enhanced opportunities for radio enthusiasts may ensue. Fingers crossed for a lively Sunday evening on the airwaves! -. Here’s hopin’. Otter likes agin doggone it!! 🤣🤣🤣Edit: we just got whacked again. Hahaha Edited February 4 by hamateur 1953 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax Spacex Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Nothing yet on 6m. Of course always a possibility that no one is transmitting. 40m through 10m is active. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 (edited) Im seeing spots showing it moving west. Already some reports as far north as WV although I don’t hear anything yet. My grid square shows a contact. Edit: I’m at CN87vs I mostly am an experimenter and project builder. It’s been a long time since I have viewed live activity on any of our bands other than being an active participant. @Drax Spacexand @KW2P are probably much more aware of the software available to us these days. The reverse beacon network was the last thing I recall. Haha. Looong time ago…. Edited February 5 by hamateur 1953 Maidenhead sq 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 (edited) Anyway I saw where a Colorado Ham worked New York state and three others. Probably Texas will have a shot at North Dakota or into Canada soon if not already. Well the event was brief. Too bad however 28 mhz is now open into Victoria Australia via F2 haha. Newbie needs to get herself a Ham license. Haha. 73. Mike/Hagrid May still be active. A tx ham KV5W just worked our state of Georgia…. Edited February 5 by hamateur 1953 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philalethes Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 14 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said: Earlier this year a rather large E layer of ionisation developed following nine M class flares. 3576 appears to be very active in m class and if it keeps this up today ( Sunday Feb 4 2024) we may again see our six metre ( 50 mhz) band open again after local sunset along our southern tier states. Maybe even 144 if there is sufficient ionisation. I am hoping that @Drax Spacex and @KW2P are around to see the event unfold or fizzle like SC 24. Hahaha. The average flux over the last 24 hours is not far from C5, currently at C4.5; not quite where it was last time, but maybe you'll still get something. Looks like it's calming down a bit now though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 (edited) Yeah, noticed this also on solar soft too. However I thought the event had passed, yet someone in Tx grid square EM 22 just worked illinois on 50 mhz interesting. But may have been meteor scatter which is done by a lot of us too. He didn’t list his mode. This AR is probably the huge sucker that we have been waiting for. Shame it isn’t lower in latitude for a longer visit! Haha. Oh yeah a New Mexico ham evidently worked over the pole into Russia on 28 mhz too. Pretty cool. Probably a e to F2 hookup Edited February 5 by hamateur 1953 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php?Lan=E I ran across this Ham site yesterday speculating on whether ionisation was sufficiently advanced to allow nighttime DX on 50 mhz from flaring that had occurred earlier. This am the e layer is already supporting communication in several areas of our lower 48 as can be seen. The sun isn’t even up yet here! Haha. 73 Mike N7ORL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 (edited) Wow. Well today was interesting. Useless AR 3590 which hasn’t done much but plaster our ionosphere with Hard and soft X radiation over the last week is still radiating halfway up the C scale! Anyway evidently was enough earlier to support double hop Es into Jordan from Oklahoma. But dying fast now. Only a lone portable in Colorado I see frequently there is still making contacts. Was brief but pretty exciting to watch!!! 73 Mike N7ORL This makes me wonder if those E “ clouds” will occur at higher earth latitudes during flare events as we approach the summer solstice. This is certainly a good part of cycle 25 to observe those sporadic events. Edited February 29 by hamateur 1953 Reflection on refractions 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 (edited) Today Saturday March 16 2024 our E layer got hit hard by a M 3.5 or so. Having seen little activity from anywhere on 50 mhz lately, I decided to check DX maps. Maidenhead grid square DN70 is presently alive with activity from two sources in multiple directions. This could become interesting as our summer progresses in the Northern hemisphere. Mike N7ORL. Edit: I expanded the map and it looks as though six is open even to trans equatorial communications presently. Probably linkup to another cloud of ionised particles. Edit. We are also coincidentally in the middle of a low-energy solar particle event at S-1 levels. However this doesn’t bother 50 mhz much at all except perhaps a higher noise level. @Pom @helios@Newbie@KW2P Edited March 16 by hamateur 1953 Probable TE link. S-1 particle event from west limb another region 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 We had nice Trans-Equatorial Propagation on 6m this evening. But I haven't seen Sporadic-E in a looooong time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 (edited) 49 minutes ago, helios said: We had nice Trans-Equatorial Propagation on 6m this evening. But I haven't seen Sporadic-E in a looooong time. Absolutely amazing! Frankly I doubted that the M3.5 would have effected you much, but possibly it did being as we are near the spring equinox. Very cool. Ours never got up to my latitude either. However our midwest looked like a spiderweb as I related to Pom in a PM. Edited March 17 by hamateur 1953 Midwest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 (edited) Well. Today we have a very similar situation, however nothing higher than Mid C levels, further confounding the present situation. I am definitely going to puzzle about this one 😆The situation continues. Evidently the main E cloud is smack over central Nebraska. I see lots of TE today. Not unusual at all at equinoctial times. Hmmm. Edited March 18 by hamateur 1953 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 Again today widespread Es activity and as usual NO0T/P* is having a heyday working east. Also WQ0P who is mainly working South American Hams I think. However today I see no significant flare activity other than possibly some residual from yesterday. Lending more credence to the association between localization by convection of ionized particles as discussed in an article link posted by @Pomlast month. * the slash /P denotes he is a portable station and not at his primary residence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 @helios posted a bit ago in this topic and may be interested that I observed live sporadic Es into two areas of Great Britain the other day. Wish I had noted the time, but one as far north as Scapa Flow. The other into Southern Scotland. He was mentioning a “ pipeline” on vhf and this fills the bill for 50 mhz anyway there seems to be a strong correlation with magnetic field lines also. All interesting stuff imo. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 (edited) Today April 22 2024 we see 227 sfi and near M level flux all day. I would be surprised if ten meters doesn’t open for nighttime activity via E layer at dusk today. However our F layer is really suppressed it appears still. I’m not sure whether its an entirely seasonal thing or geomagnetic disturbance at this point. The vandenberg and austin stations aren’t outputting data either. Anyway muf is around 20 mhz. Very low. Good luck if any Hams are reading this. Disregard the 20 mhz muf btw. It appears that insufficient data probably caused bad muf curves along the lower 48 in the states. Oh yeah, something that irritates me about IOS is that they didn’t think about us Hams and the fact that we always place a diagonal slash through our zeros to avoid confusion. WO0O would be an eyesore. However I accidentally discovered that when using capital letters that the theta symbol Ø makes a handy substitute probably others have discovered that when holding the O letter down other options magically appear…. Just thought Id pass it on. 73. Mike N7ORL NOT N7ØRL. Haha Editing. Unless someone got some nighttime DX on 28 or 50 mhz last night my “ prediction” was as bad as any of Patricks! 😇🙄🐈⬛ Edited April 23 by hamateur 1953 E layer. Major failure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted May 4 Author Share Posted May 4 (edited) Today as we are entering the summer Es season May 4 2024 at 17:00 UTC SFI around 160 F2 across the continent ( USA ) under 28 mhz as is typical for summer. However following a day of flare activity from 3663 primarily, practically the entire continent is alive with activity on 50 mhz. It is Saturday, after all and this helps. Probably too soon to infer a direct correlation, but those operators are sure making lots of contacts. It will be interesting to see how this day develops. Mike N7ORL Edit Eight hrs later. 50 mhz still open. Also see someone from Maidenhead sq EN 61 by Lake Michigan just worked into Europe via double hop Es. Congratulations! Couldn’t read ur callsign on this phone. sri! Continues again in a similar fashion, however nothing at my latitude unfortunately yet. However it appears that NØOT worked Argentina ( LU) and Chile ( CE) today on 50 mhz amazing at 170 sfi. Mike Edited May 6 by hamateur 1953 Updates 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 (edited) This is definitely funny. I was about to draw a conclusion that Es is primarily caused by higher level M and X flaring but decided to check DX maps first. 🤣🤣🤣 Good thing. For a third day in a row now our country is practically crisscrossed with red Es contacts on 50 mhz! F2 muf only at 20 mhz and also a definite reflection from E layer ionosounding in Massachusetts. At 112 km height. Hmmm. @KW2P @helios and @WA1ZJL. might enjoy this conundrum. 73. Mike N7ORL Yet another thing just hit me. Ferrite paints have RF absorbing qualities well known for sixty years. So assuming that our E layer is comprised mostly of meteroric dust mainly of nickel iron and nickel iron chondrites unless ionized I still think a lot more needs to be observed here. No M flares recently or X btw Edit: I’m not suggesting putting iron filings into your microwaves btw. Although it would certainly be entertaining, the XYL would likely disapprove! Edited May 8 by hamateur 1953 Tagged hams. Typos. RF experimentation 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Until about 2 weeks ago we had complete lack of Es this year. Since then we had a few short and shy attempts of Es formation. But not enough for 50 MHz. Today absolutely nothing ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 (edited) 19 hours ago, helios said: Until about 2 weeks ago we had complete lack of Es this year. Since then we had a few short and shy attempts of Es formation. But not enough for 50 MHz. Today absolutely nothing ... Same here @helios As I am typing this we just got hit from a M flare probably from 3663 as @Aten indicated. If you are reading this today, have a quick look at DX maps of N.A continent west of y’all on 50 mhz. might as well colour it red entirely with Es. Incredible. 73. Mike You guys got all of the good Aurora last winter, we seem to be getting all the Es. now. Deserves a meme, but probably would confuse everyone else. Haha. Edited May 7 by hamateur 1953 Typos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted May 8 Author Share Posted May 8 (edited) I think this may be the proverbial “ acid test”. If ten metres opens for night skip via E layer I am convinced of a link between flare activity and Es. The F2 layer is useless on ten presently btw. Cannot wait. Well gotta be dark in New York now and whatever layer is responsible shows activity east coast. Primarily N to south. As is typical I’m just a bit too far north until June probably to take advantage. 28 mhz on west coast is great south presently at my local dusk. From Oregon through Mexico. Cool. Last edit tonight. It’s ten pm here. And Salt Lake city Utah working into two Canadian provinces on ten metres as I type this. Very cool. We are also near the peak of the Eta aquarids meteor shower. Haha. Love complications!! Edited May 8 by hamateur 1953 Typo. Updated per DX maps and at ten pm local pdt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pom Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 The other day I heard a strong G station on 10 m SSB while driving to my /a qth. Today having my morning cuppa and tuning through 10 m, I found the beacon portion full of EU signals. 0600z. Es season definitively has started. 😍 Now packing my SOTA rucksack to take advantage of the hopefully enhanced cme-pre-arrival condx. Public holiday, ufb wx and condx, perfect for playing radio outdoors. Ahoi Pom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamateur 1953 Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 6 hours ago, Pom said: The other day I heard a strong G station on 10 m SSB while driving to my /a qth. Today having my morning cuppa and tuning through 10 m, I found the beacon portion full of EU signals. 0600z. Es season definitively has started. 😍 Now packing my SOTA rucksack to take advantage of the hopefully enhanced cme-pre-arrival condx. Public holiday, ufb wx and condx, perfect for playing radio outdoors. Ahoi Pom Cool @Pom Just now saw ur reply. Six over here has been blood-red with contacts for three days straight!! Just in time for my homebrew ground plane for six to break!! Haha. Have an inverted vee up now for six. Good luck on those SOTAs. 73 Mike N7ORL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pom Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 (edited) Thanks, Mike. It wasn't exactly what I expected. No Es, only a single inter-Eu contact to IT9. All other QSOs DX. But it took time and needed patience. I left home around local noon hoping that all those CMEs were over then. No need to mention that SWL app instead kept meeping all the time on the drive to the summit. But this is the way it goes, after the ascent and deploying the station on the summit, I found 10 m dead. The only signals were on 28074 (FT8) and some German expats chatting in SSB (which I didn't want to join). If you look at the picture closely, you can see the almost blank waterfall display. Mögel-Dellinger par excellance, monsieur! QRV / cqing shortly after 1400z. Nothing. First QSO 1416 EA8. Nothing. Second 1430 again EA8. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. From 1500 the impact seemed over and condx improved rapidly. A dozen stations from LU, EA8, PY, YC, IT9, 9K (and a local chap) came to my log within 30 minutes. All SSB. 😃 IC-705, 40 W PEP, Oblong 5 m agl Will have to pack my radio rucksack with my VHF stuff by tomorrow morning at the latest, not to miss a possible radio aurora on Saturday. Ahoi Pom Edited May 9 by Pom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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