Bad band conditions
My trip to the top of Mount Prospect was a semi-bust. Band conditions were not to be. Steve NU7T sent me this on the Polar Bear e-mail reflector:
Sorry Larry Bear,
ALERT: X-Ray Flux exceeded M5
Threshold Reached: 2012 Jul 12 1626 UTC
NOAA Scale: R2 – Moderate
Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information on affected area and expected duration ( 1800 z ).Grrrrrr
15m – 6dB attenuation Grrrrrr
20m – 3 dB attenuation Grrr
40m – 17 dB attentuation Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Steve, NU7T PB #300
And Steve was 10000000% correct – the entire time I was at the summit, I heard one, watery and warbly signal on 20 Meters. All my CQing went for naught. I was heard on the Reverse Beacon Network, however (by at least one skimmer):
WZ7I | W2LJ | 14061.0 | CQ [LoTW] | 7 dB | 20 wpm | 1629z 12 Jul |
Oh well, Maybe things will pick up for tomorrow. In any event, I’ll post some of the photos I took, later tonight.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!
There’s another CME coming chaps!!