Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] New Mediumwave Propagation Project

[Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think this is, for me, deja vu all over again ( apologies to the lat Yogi
Berra ). This is very similar to a project that the late Page Taylor and I
attempted back in the 1970's. We did manage some very rough ( and also
quite expected ) correlations between the A & K indices and receptions of
TA's in ECNA. But in part because of insufficient data of the breadth we
really needed ( i e. several others doing the same thing regularly at the
same time ), we never did anything with the data we had accumulated, and it
is long gone.

My caution is that even with enough active participants, the moment to
moment variations in the ionosphere and also on the ground may make it
impossible to come to any scientifically acceptable conclusions.



Russ Edmunds
15 mi NW Phila
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>

AM: Modified Sony ICF2010's (4) barefoot w/whip
FM: Yamaha T-80 & T-85, each w/ Conrad RDS Decoder;
Onkyo T-450RDS; Tecsun PL-310 ( 4);
modified Sony ICF2010's (3) w/APS9B @ 15';
modified Sony ICF2010 w/whip


On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 12:42 PM, Nick Hall-Patch <nhp@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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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