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Strong (G3) Geomagnetic Storms are Likely on 16 September 2024
via the ARRL: The K7RA Solar Update
via the ARRL: The K7RA Solar Update
Vacuum Tubes β Electronics at Work: 1943 Educational Film
via the ARRL: The K7RA Solar Update
via the ARRL: The K7RA Solar Update
Vacuum Tubes β Electronics at Work: 1943 Educational Film
Low Slung Dipoles and How Project TouCans Reached California from US-5906 on a POTA by a Cliff
Β We got to camp a bit more in the middle of nowhere than we usually do while traveling across Utah last weekend. My partner found the Burr Trail Scenic Byway. I've looked for a route across southern Utah for the last several years, but had somehow missed this really nice, well-paved, little road.
We camped at the foot of an East-facing cliff, and the QSO map for the POTA reflected that fact pretty nicely:
Almost all of the QSOs and spots paid attention to that cliff face. And then, there was N0OI:
How? How had the signal cleared the cliff and skipped out to Perris, CA?
Using data from the Boulder, CO ionosonde, at the time Project TouCans was spotted in California, the F2 layer skip is modeled in the gif below. Note that it clears the mesa, (just barely.)
The other skip off to the Southeast was headed to the Cayman Islands. All of the skewing around is to convince myself that the the F2 path lines up with the path to the spotting station. You'll notice that there's a slight elevation offset that needs to be fixed.
More Notes on the POTA
As a final note, while I'm waiting for all the F2 data to come back, I've been trying to convince the gang that the F2-height datastream from the Boulder, CO ionosondeΒ
is in fact entered manually by a room of accountants not unlike those in John Wick, but to no avail. I guess they're just digital natives :)Β
Ah! And credits to where the ionosonde data actually is coming from
Reinisch, B. W., and I. A. Galkin, Global ionospheric radio observatory (GIRO), Earth, Planets, and Space, 63, 377-381, doi:10.5047/eps.2011.03.001, 2011.
Video: Long-haul Ionospheric Propagation on 50 MHz - Roger Harrison, VK2ZRH
On the 14th of May 2024, Roger Harrison, VK2ZRH have a very detailed presentation titled 'Long-haul Ionospheric Propagation on 50 MHz' to the Madison DX Club.
In the video, Roger goes into quite a bit of depth about Sporadic-E propagation, Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) and the complexities of both.
I think anyone who has an interest in propagation at 50 MHz or even in the low VHF region will find this presentation of interest.
The presentation is about 70 minutes in length and is shown below...
Link... See my 50 MHz page for other presentations and posts about some long distance paths on 50 MHz.