Is a solar storm headed for Earth?
A solar storm is currently ongoing, according to AS.com and silive.com. The storm, stoked by a coronal mass ejection, ranges from minor interference in communications systems to causing blackouts. While they may be a minor inconvenience, and in some cases can cause problems, most famously being the Carrington Event of 1859. they’re also a welcome sign that we’re coming out of the solar minimum. With most of these, amateur radio operators can take advantage of the conditions for much stronger propagation conditions on HF as we cover in the RTO Course. The more solar activity we have, the more active the ionosphere becomes, meaning a much better ability to communicate regionally and even globally via HF.
So, enjoy the propagation this weekend if you get the chance.
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The big question is really about propagation and procreation activities together….on the same night! Is it truly safe as the internet says no.
R
Hahaha ?
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/homepage
I haven’t seen anything on the SWPC that shows increasing X-rays or proton rays from the sun.
CME’s have been really few.
The ejection affected us on Thursday into Friday.
A research report last month in Nature on Solar Flares at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67860-3#auth-2 “…found clear correlation between proton density and the occurrence of large earthquakes (M > 5.6), with a time shift of one day. The significance of such correlation is very high, with probability to be wrong lower than 10–5.”
Also, last night it was proposed that there is already a very high probability of serious EQ activity over the next 7-10 days as shown by this EQ researcher/predictor, who I’ve followed for years and found to be right more often than not… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWz1AeT6hBo
The way 2020 has been going, should we be surprised to see yet another perfect storm unleashed, only this time Solar Flare enhanced EQ’s?
That correlation is very interesting.
Interesting information, albeit it could be a double edged sword me thinks. If as you say, HF propagation etc is markedly improved, but what of the damage to electronics if not protected in a Faraday cage? You could be listening or transmitting and suddenly get the ‘surge’ and voila, your equipment is fried. Just playing the devils advocate. Also, since we have entered a solar minimum period, if I am not mistaken volcanic and seismic activity has always been higher during these time periods. May be correlated much the same as CME’s as mentioned above by smc. Pretty heady stuff. No wonder Einsteins’ hair looked like he was playing with an electrical socket.
I doubt it’ll be that strong. Highly doubt.
I will submit that this stuff is all outside my box, bigly. The EQ researcher/predictor link is absolutely fascinating. Having lived on the west coast of North America and experienced several magnitude 7 earthquakes, it brings quite a bit of authenticity to the subject.
Thanks for sharing this story and to smc for his input as well. Stay safe.
Yeah bro!
Coming out of the solar minimum? We entered it a year or so ago and these events last a decade, or longer. Grand Solar minimums happen ~ every 400+ years and have caused mini-ice ages.
We didn’t just enter it. We went into it some time ago, and the sun is now coming out of it. Its not an on/off switch.
Mr. Combs,
Think of the cycles of solar activity like the tides. We are currently at low tide and the tide is starting rise back up. The solar cycles, if my memory serves me, are about seven years of many followed by seven years of not many. We will have an increase of solar activity over the next seven years when it will start to slow down, etc.
Hope this helps.
As far as worrying about another Carrington event, the CME has to be ejected from the sun at just the right latitude to match the plane that Earth orbits on. AND it has to be ejected at just the right TIME to arrive at the Earth’s orbit when we are there to catch it. AND the CME has to be big enough to cause trouble beyond lighting up the polar skies. These conditions do not happen very often but when they do hello dark ages. We will get about two days notice of an incoming event big enough to cause even minor disruptions to warrant putting radio gear in Faraday cages. This one is reported to be passing south of us.
I don’t speak Spanish…
How will this affect my Midland GTXr?
“The Wally World Blister Pack Radio Special” -N.C. Scout.
I love blister pack radios. Saved our ass more than once in Baghdad. Obviously a violation of Op-Sec. But in an emergency, OpSec takes a back seat sometimes. Especially when you are standing in front of 1,000 windows and doorways in the intersection of Route Arrows and Route Predators doing “route clearance”. AKA stand around and draw enemy fire.
I HIGHLY recommend that all Partisans carry one JIC.
Every airsoft kid and paintballer has Midlands. They will be more useful than we think. Easy to jam though. 1/56 chances of finding the station. If you buy 56 radios, and put each one on a different channel, you can monitor the entire net. Same with CB. Of course, modern ones actually can have a bit of security.
Anyway, Interesting article. The science of this has always fascinated me. Did you know that there are still WW2 transmissions floating around in the Ionosphere? I saw a Marine Signals intel guy tap into this in real time once. “He was like, Airborne, Come look what I found” Amazing Stuff.
I should sign up for your November RTO and ARTO class.
Monitoring and jamming them is pretty easy. I don’t reccomend them at all. The frequency band…sure. But not those radios.
Hi Johnny Paratrooper,
What is JIC ?
Thanks.
Ralph k
Just In Case.
5
@Johnny Para: Well, buying 56 radios is doable, but a better option would be to buy one scanner, Uniden BC125AT Handheld 512MHz Scanner with Close Call Nearby Signal Capture and monitor Uniden BC125AT – Compact Handheld Scanner With
Pre-Programmed Fire/Emergency, Ham, Marine, Railroad, Civil Air, Military Air, CB Radio, FRS/GMRS/MURS,
https://www.walcottradio.com/uniden-bc125at-handheld-512mhz-scanner-with-close-call-nearby-signal-capture-p-3180.html
We know that frs/gmrs devices like the midland, et al; have low power output and short stubby antennas (blister pack stuff) so if the scanner alerts, you know opfor is nearby, can monitor, triangulate, then jam em…
That stuff is taught by NCS, i highly suggest attending a signals and other RTO intercept classes…