Re: [IRCA] Dead band conditions last night in Indiana. Au?

["HASCALL, DAVID CIV DFAS" <DAVID.HASCALL@xxxxxxxx>]

Marc;

Thanks for the input and clarification of how Au works.  I stand
corrected about the daytime Au conditions.  I must have misinterpreted
what I read.

I've only seen the band that dead once or twice in 25 years of off and
on MW DX.  I still wanted to put new batteries in my SRF-59, even after
I knew what was causing it.

When I think of Au, I think (from Indianapolis) of not being able to
hear Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, NYC and such and in turn I can hear
South American stations and low powered domestics from the deep South.
That is Au, right, just the Aurora in a different location or intensity?

73,
Dave in Indy

PS: I crossposted my reply to the AM DX list, too.

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:42:44 +0000
From: midcapemarc@xxxxxxxxxxx (Marc DeLorenzo)
Subject: [IRCA] Dead band conditions last night in Indiana. Au?
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
	<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:
	
<032820081342.27988.47ECF5D40001983000006D5422007589420C9D0E030A9F0E0C0B
0703@xxxxxxxxxxx>
	

Dave,

Your observations are quite typical of Auroral conditions at an inland
location.  Basically, no skywave is received until about 2 hours after
local sunset.  However, I have to disagree with one part of your post,
in which you quoted two other DXers:

 " Two people mentioned a "blackout" on the AM band, where only local
stations would come in and even they would be weak even during the day
..."

It has been my observation over many years that daytime groundwave
reception is NOT affected by Auroral conditions.  Daytime groundwave is
the same during Auroral conditions as during periods of solar quiet.

73,

Marc DeLorenzo
South Dennis, MA
http://hometown.aol.com/midcapemarc/myhomepage/profile.html


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "HASCALL, DAVID CIV DFAS" <DAVID.HASCALL@xxxxxxxx>
> Over on the IRCA list, there were lots of discussions about groundwave
> propagation and what the Solar figures mean.  Finally the discussion
> turned to what would happen if the K and A numbers went off of the
> scale.  Two people mentioned a "blackout" on the AM band, where only
> local stations would come in and even they would be weak even during
the
> day (like they were on reduced nighttime power).
> 
> Last night was not a blackout in the truest sense but I listened on
> every radio that I had at hand and I thought that every last one was
> broken!  At 2030 EDT (just after LSS) the clears from 1000-1200 KHz
> only had two stations, local WFNI and a super weak WTAM.  Normally
every
> channel would have SOMETHING (signals and or IBOC).  900-1000 KHz had
a
> weak 980-OH WONE at about 100 miles and the local on 950.  No Chicago
> stations at all (890, 720 nor 670) and WCBS at about 10 percent of its
> normal strength, easily the furthest signal.  Even the SRF-59, on
which
> the regional channels normally sound like graveyard channels, those
> bands were eerily quiet.  There was some lightning crashes but other
> than those and a few locals, it was an odd kind of quiet.  Had it not
> been raining and foggy, I bet that I could have seen aurora, low in
the
> sky, even this far South.  I did not check FM or TV for Au cx.
> 
> Finally by 2230 the conditions improved w/ Reloj loud on 570 and most
of
> the NYC stations were loud and clear.  Even then Chicago and WCCO were
> only weakly in.  For a switch, WGR and WABC were three times as strong
> as WBBM, though WBBM is less than 200 miles away.  WGR was one of the
> loudest on the dial.
> 
> 73,
> Dave in Indy


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