Oh yeah!, X-5 flare just happened.. May be earth directed, Bring it Sun!!!

reply to post by Phage


VHF can vary depending on conditions. Sometimes I have talked to a San Diego station on 146.52 from the Simi Valley area (the 118 rocky peak area) going to or from work.

There are conditions where you can talk to Hawaii if up high enough during some months in the summer I think.

Tropospheric ducts and sporadic E conditions can extend the range of VHF signals.

Tropo duct record Hawaii

Sporadic E link

Numerous contacts in the 2200 - to 3200km range made recently on 144MHz prove that sporadic-E on the higher VHF bands is not limited to the 2200km distance maximum characteristic of "one -hop" E-layer propagation. Stations as widely separated as St Paul Island (in the Gulf of St Lawrence) and Florida have completed 2-meter contacts over 2200 km into the Midwest and Far West; during the June 1987 ARRL VHF QSO Party, several extraordinary contacts over paths 2900 km and longer were completed on 144MHz from Arizona and Nevada to Georgia and Florida via sporadic-E. Many other examples of contacts made over similar distances indicate that conditions capable of supporting such contacts may be more common than once thought. In spite of these accomplishments, the longest 144MHz sporadic-E contact was not made in North America, but rather is claimed by Gyula Nagy, HG0HO, and Salvatore Patruno, EA8XS, who united two continents over a 3865-km path on July 16, 1983.

Sporadic-E is a type of ionospheric E-layer reflection caused by small patches of unusually dense ionization. These sporadic E-layer "clouds" appear unpredictably, but they are most common over the US and southern Canada during the daylight hours of late spring and summer. Sporadic-E events may last for just a few minutes to several hours; a given event usually affects only small areas of the country at any one time. During June and July, signals propagated by means of sporadic-E ionization may be heard on 50MHz for several hours a day on more than half the days. Sporadic-E is observed on 144 MHz less than a tenth as often as on 50MHz. Signals are often remarkably strong, allowing 50 and 144MHz stations running 10 watts, and often much less than that, to make contacts 1500 km and longer with relative ease.

One analysis of the relationship between the planetary K-index and sporadic-E, summarized in Fig 3, demonstrates that observed 50MHz E-skip conditions have occurred more often when the K index was low. When the index was high, as during the geomagnetic storm of June 15 to 22, 1965, observed minutes of sporadic-E activity fell off precipitously. The relationship between sporadic-E ionization and the 11 year solar cycle is less clear, but data from three long-term studies, presented in Fig 4, suggests that sporadic E may peak during solar minima.

Well I am in Virginia and so far so good. No problems with cell phone, satellite tv or internet in any way. I am sure the end of the world is just moments away though...

Northren lights are gunna kick ass tonight!!!

****VIDEO UPDATE****






Something going on in Erie, PA.

ERIE CITY | ERIE COUNTY | 6TH ST - FROM N PARK ROW ( 7TH TO 6TH, SASSAFRAS TO FRENCH) SEVERAL LARGE EXPLOSIONS CAUSED BY UNDERGROUND TRANSFORMERS. ERIE FIRE ALSO NOW GETTING HIGH GAS READINGS. DEVELOPING INCIDENT. A NEW TRANSFORMER EXPLODES EVERY 3 TO 4 M

LINK

Police closed off 7th and Peach late Wednesday night because of a big crater.

The street was opened up by an underground explosion, proceeded by two other explosions near Perry Square at 6th and Peach.

Police and firemen were on the scene and PennElec was also called in. They believe that all caused by an explosion of a transformer.

A total of six explosions occurred. Police advised that people in the area to avoid the site of the explosions. Especially Perry Square on the left side. Gannon University also sent out alerts to their students, telling them now to go anywhere near the area.

Police said this was nothing criminal, that the explosions were results of an underground transformer.

News Link


Talk to us PA.

Penelec Outage map No severe outage being reported yet.

Is anybody experiencing anything weird yet? I keep getting a brief static sound coming from the speakers on my laptop and baby monitor, never happens. I'm in San Antonio, Texas.

I just now had a light bulb in my lamp go out
Most likely not related to this event...

I have to be at work 2330 (1130PM) CA time.

Should hit about lunchtime 4am...

Wow, Emberscott, way to keep that ear to the ground.

Good find.

reply to post by FreeFallin3


Is your cellphone or any other wireless device near your speakers?

Just took a peak outside, it's not completely overcast yet. A little foggy, windy, and incredibly warm for this time of year. Can't stay up all night though because of work, hopefully there is something to see when i leave for work in the morning.

Nope. My cell phone is on the dresser, laptop is in my lap and baby monitor is on my nightstand. Do you guys think the blown transformers mentioned above is related to all this? Ahhh, starting to worry now!

reply to post by emberscott


It was the occupiers. They are in the western side of Perry Square. They have finally snapped...

My mother is only a few blocks from Perry Square she still has power.

Things are normal in Millcreek, but I am a distance from downtown.

Man, wouldn't be crazy if someone had an immensly profound prophetic dream about this THREE DAYS AGO? Be even crazier if they posted a thread about it. Even CRAZIER if maybe two people read it, because ATS shuffles posts into the void if they dont get 20 flags right away.
Yawn, whatever. I did my part. Deuces snobville.

reply to post by threewhiteeyes


Im going to laugh when the rest of it comes true. Well, no, I guess I wont really.

reply to post by FreeFallin3


Besides having the mother of all headaches (which I rarely have) that come after sunrise strangely. Plus there were some DC 3 Kilovolt train power outages and signalling errors/glitches. There has been nothing unusual near Moscow, Russia the last two days. The aircraft are flying the the Emergency Radio channel is clear. I would guess hundreds of kilometers of metal rails, trains, overhead wires and signalling should be affected first, if the proverbial feces possibly hits the fan. Honestly I do not see how it could, with just a mere X 5+ flare. But if it did break down utterly I would know, being close to the railroad and all.

I know the train timetable in and out, if there is an outage it would be the signalling, power supply, or an accident of some sort. Even the Sun has its usual orange and warm color back. But that transformer incident mentioned in the posts above does sound a little worrying. Hopefully the power companies begin to make a small transformer surplus, just in case. After a few hours the headaches begin to subside a little. But now my internet line grows unstable. Such a delightful day though, no cloud in sight, so if there are going to be widespread auroras tonight, Moscow will probably see them.

reply to post by kawika

So...nothing about solar activity decreasing normal VHF communications.
The Kp index is currently low.

Originally posted by steve95988
I just now had a light bulb in my lamp go out

Most likely not related to this event...

edit on 01/04/2009 by steve95988 because: (no reason given)

I had a lightbulb go out too.

This is clearly evidence......clearly....

______________________

The weather has flipped here in the gta area
ontario, canada.
Yesterday midday it was minus -12/c.
Now with the sun down and just about midnight, it's plus+16/c
I was out in just my pj's, it's unusually warm
(60/f) yet -12/c yesterday at noon ! This is not normal !
The sky is overcast yet you would think that there was
a full moon since it's bright out, and the clouds are
a pinkish kind of colour.

______________________

reply to post by Phage


Yup.

Seems kind of random and capricious.

reply to post by ToneDeaf


i talk to people all across the US and EVERYONE has been experiencing strange weather. everything from no snow in places that always get it, to places that have never gotten snow that had it; then theres the tornadoes, wind, hella hot winter, etc.. even here in AZ we've been going +/- 10 degrees from normal EVERY week. maybe thats where "heat wave" got its name??

but in all seriousness, ive been telling people for the past few months that i've been "feeling" the sun actually giving me a "burning" sensation, like i was under a microscope, but as soon as you step into shade, it gets really cool! has anyone else noticed this??

reply to post by ToneDeaf

Well since a cold front recently passed over you and a low is on the way a change in temperatures is expected.

An overcast sky is very good at reflecting lights from the ground back to the ground.

There will be no effects from the CME for another 12 hours at least. If it's clear tomorrow night (but it probably won't be) you should get some auroral displays.