Now We Wait For The CME

[AF6LJ]

X-9.8 solar flare this morning, this is going to play hell with HF radio communications.

[AF6LJ]

This is a big deal....
From Spaceweather.com.....

MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: On Sept. 6th at 1202 UT, sunspot AR2673 unleashed a major X9.3-class solar flare--the strongest solar flare in more than a decade. X-rays and UV radiation from the blast ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a strong shortwave radio blackout over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean (blackout map). The explosion also produced a CME. However, available coronagraph images are not yet sufficient to determine whether or not the CME is Earth-directed. Please stay tuned for updates about this event.

http://spaceweather.com/

[voltz]

Currently experiencing a complete HF blackout here in the UK. 160 to 10, all dead. (time now 15:40 local time).

http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/

[AF6LJ]

Not so good here also..

[voltz]

Starting to hear signals again now. That was one serious drop out.. Could not hear a single station, not even on CW. So seems to coming in waves. That last one lasted about 20 minutes or so.

[AF6LJ]

Wow we just had another large one...



http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/goes-x-ray-flux

[bd139]

Well at least I've got an excuse for my home brew receiver being crap today!

[CopperCone]

Is it too late? I just finished making a magloop for HF. Is there a particular characteristic you can detect of the solar flare with a HF antenna?

[ruffy91]

We had a DAB+ Blackout on 194.064MHz for a few hours. Could this be from this solar flare?

[AF6LJ]

Is it too late? I just finished making a magloop for HF. Is there a particular characteristic you can detect of the solar flare with a HF antenna?

Signals go away, and when they are really bad the normal band noise (not caused by power lines or other strong local noise sources) will actually go down in amplitude.
Sometimes AM broadcast stations will be attenuated.

The effects are not seen during the night hours, however the disturbance caused by a CME can be very disruptive during both night and day.

[PA0PBZ]

We had a DAB+ Blackout on 194.064MHz for a few hours. Could this be from this solar flare?

No, the effect is on the ionosphere and influences radio waves that are normally reflected by the different layers there. Line-of-sight communication (generally everything above 30-50Mhz) are not affected.