Eclipse Report

Eclipse from downtown Wolcott, CT, at 1854 UTC
(photographed while holding my telescope's sun filter in front of the lens of my iPhone 6)

I made over a dozen recordings of the AM broadcast band during the eclipse and I will review them later. I also had my C.Crane CC Skywave receiver outdoors with me during the event. I programmed six frequencies from this list into the Skywave – 650, 670, 750, 1040, 1190 and 1510 – frequencies that are dead air during daylight here.

I heard nothing on these frequencies during the hour leading up to the eclipse maximum here in Wolcott at 1845 UTC. About 15 minutes later, I could hear a weak signal on 1510 that became stronger during the next ten minutes – strong enough to be intelligible and identifiable: WRNJ in Hackettstown, NJ, transmitting 2,000 watts, 113 miles to the west-southwest. The signal peaked at about 1915 UTC and then slowly faded into the noise disappearing completely at about 1930 UTC.

I hear WRNJ most nights, but never during daylight, so I assume the eclipse's "nighttime" conditions were the reason I heard it this afternoon.