Solar storm

We appear to be in the midst of a solar storm. Last night the aurora was visible far further sound than normal. I would have expected good auroral conditions on 10m, 6m,4m and 2m.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0q4pj5j729o

Aurora

In Scotland, there was a visible aurora last night. The BBC was full of pictures of this today. 

I am not sure how far south it was visible. I have not heard if there were VHF QSOs via this aurora. When access to 6m was first granted I recall having a 6m auroral QSO using 1W CW and a wire dipole.

Aurora webcams

Apparently you can watch auroras live via a couple of webcams.

See https://lightsoverlapland.com/webcams/ .

Aurora?

The BBC was forecasting aurora sightings possible in the north of Scotland tonight and Southgate News talks about a CME event hitting the earth.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/february/sunspot-explodes-hurls-cme-at-earth.htm#.WoVcdkx2vIU

Auroras?

This was on Space Weather earlier:

"SOLAR WIND ENGULFS EARTH: A solar wind storm is underway around Earth as our planet enters a high-speed stream of gas flowing from a large hole in the sun's atmosphere."

Be on watch for auroral openings.

6m QRP aurora

Shortly after 6m was released in the UK back in the mid 1980s I only had 1W to a simple wire dipole. This antenna was not very high and just strung from the gutter. I chanced on an aurora and managed to work some DX on 6m SSB, even with this set-up.

GB3RMK, the beacon way up in Scotland, was copied many times with this set-up on meteor pings on 6m. I used to leave the RX running and in just about every 15 minute period I would copy part or all of the callsign on CW. On 6m, auroras can be good.

On 10m QRP SSB I recall working the USA aided by auroras too.

Auroras?

See http://spaceweather.com/ .

We could be in for some auroras with a strong blast of solar wind over the next few days. This could lead to some auroral DX on VHF.

Pink auroras

Thanks (again) to Southgate News comes news of pink auroras. There were 3 days now without sunspots although today the sunspot number is 13.

See http://spaceweather.com/ .

Visible Aurora

The Space Weather website reports on a world famous surfer who sees a visible aurora in Norway.

See http://www.smh.com.au/sport/surfing-great-mick-fanning-seeks-new-adventures-20161213-gtaaxn.html

Aurora tomorrow?

There is a chance of aurora May 6th according to Dr Tamitha Skov on Twitter. I don't use Twitter much but get a daily email.

Milky Way and Aurora - NOT amateur radio

See https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.canada/videos/10153577012364961/ .

If you have a Facebook account you may be very impressed by this time-lapse photo. It certainly impressed me!  I am unsure you can see it without a Facebook account.  If not, try the Greenpeace Canada site.

Auroras and WSPR?

I have never (before) now used WSPR on 10m and 6m during an auroral opening.  Certainly on 2m the Doppler is likely to make it impossible, I would think.  On 10m ,and maybe 6m, I think the mode might have some promise.

I have decided to leave both my 10m and 6m WSPR systems running overnight just in case.

Anyone know what happens to WSPR in a typical auroral opening?

UPDATE 2128z:  Well 10m and 6m WSPR are dead currently, with just local G4IKZ (18km) spotting me on 10m. No-one at all on 6m WSPR.

UPDATE 2140z:  Just checked outside for signs of visible aurora but street lights and poor weather make it impossible. I saw a visible aurora once at the old QTH years ago and once out of a plane window at night when returning from the west coast of the USA near the North Pole.

Solar Flare and Aurora

Yesterday, satellites picked up the strongest solar flare in almost 2 years. The M2 class eruption came from an old sunspot (number 1039) behind the sun's eastern limb. There is a chance of HF blackouts and auroral conditions today Jan 20th. See http://spaceweather.com/