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Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] New Mediumwave Propagation Project
Thanks for the input Mark.
At this point in the proceedings, rather than bursts of loggings of
overseas MW DX at random times, what is really needed is signal
strength data that is recorded regularly, at the same time, every
day, and unfortunately, that is pretty thin on the ground. The
daily loggings that I have been doing for the past couple of years
are the nearest that we could come up with, as at least there is an
attempt at noting every DX station heard, as well as peak signal
strengths for each . Even these loggings have a certain anecdotal
aspect to them, depending on how carefully I go through my files each
day, but I believe they give a good general idea of daily
conditions. We have cobbled together a metric that approximates
total signal strength of all DX noted for each day, which are the
numbers seen on Bill's charts. Arbitrary, but it's done the same
way, every day.
An eye is being kept on the frequent reports that have been
accompanying mine in the IRCA list, but If you, or anybody else,
knows of regular recording of signal strengths from MW DX stations
that is occurring elsewhere, please let one of us know.
With a constant stream of such data, we think we get an idea of "good
days", "OK days" and "bad days" of DX conditions. Whether that can
be correlated in any way with the constant stream of data that is
available from the providers of geomagnetic indices...well, that
remains to be seen. The charts are updated regularly and available
at http://tivodxer.com/jpgraph_example_multigraph1.php, so anyone can
try their hand at finding patterns in the information
provided. Bill is working at providing archival displays going back
further than 60 days ago as well.
Of course, if patterns are found, then we will still have no more
than a working hypothesis at best, and, at that point, it will be
really useful to look at all those more random loggings that are
being reported, to see how well they match up with that working
hypothesis. Even though the random observations are unlikely to help
much now, they could be very useful further down the road. For this
project, it continues to be important that those observations
continue to be reported to the lists. They are being saved, just not
really usable right now.
In effect, we're trying to follow the scientific method...make
consistent observations (and note when we don't), generate a
hypothesis, if possible, using these charts, and then hope that
people keep challenging any hypothesis with fresh observations that
will either help confirm it, modify it, or throw it out.
(for example, if we'd already rashly formed a grand Theory of
Everything based on the execrable conditions of the last few weeks as
observed in western Canada, we would have been immediately shot down
by Walt Salmaniw's recent loggings from Haida Gwaii)
best wishes,
Nick
At 01:19 15-01-17, Mark Connelly via IRCA wrote:
I think that the Topband list (160m ham) members could also offer
useful input to the study. Nick Hall-Patch "reads the mail" on that
list and occasionally contributes.
East Coast observations can be mined out of various sources
(Facebook, Yahoogroups, NRC e-list / bulletin, IRCA e-list /
bulletin, etc.). Look for regular contributions from DXers in
Atlantic Canada and the New England states: the areas where TA's and
deeper Latin Americans are most likely to be observed. Going back
60 days gets you into the timeframe of several DXpeditions that
occurred in November. These include NL, PEI, ME, MA, NJ, and
PA. Those reports should provide a lot of data points to augment
all the West Coast stuff.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Whitacre <bw@xxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; am <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sat, Jan 14, 2017 2:21 pm
Subject: [NRC-AM] New Mediumwave Propagation Project
If you're interested in radio propagation and how geomagnetic indices effect
what you hear on mediumwave, there's a project you should know about.
Graphs of the last 60 days of the daily average of the 2MeV electron flux,
A-index, K-index, Dst and solar wind plus a numerical index of Nick
Hall-Patch's
daily Victoria, BC TP and DU reception quality can be found here:
http://tivodxer.com/jpgraph_example_multigraph1.php
Not only are pertinent geomagnetic indices shown on the same page for the same
period for your comparison, but we've added actual reception data to
the graph.
Our hope is that this will allow us to find some new correlations between
reception and what the sun is doing, as well as validate or refute
some existing
theories.
Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, BC
Canada
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