Loud and Clear via Aurora

(Source: www.swpc.noaa.gov)

Mike, KA3JAW, wrote that the reason for the loud and clear transatlantic signals heard here on Wednesday evening was because during that time, aurora was active between my Connecticut location and Polskie Radio Jedynka in Solec Kujaski, Poland.

The center of the aurora was near 60°N 37.5°W (see figure above). The orange line indicates the path between my location and Poland. The thin yellow line is the mid-point at 2,024 miles.

A minor G-1 class geomagnetic storm was the result of a coronal hole spewing both low and high speed streams of solar winds towards Earth, which sparked the aurora.

Loud and Clear

Transatlantic long wave broadcast stations were loud and clear here Wednesday evening. Some of the stations were louder and clearer than I have ever heard them and I logged one new station:

Polskie Radio Jedynka on 225 kHz at 0030 UTC transmitting 1 million watts from Solec Kujawski, Poland, 4048 miles to the northeast.

Previously logged, but probably louder and clearer than when I originally logged them:

Radio Mediterranee Internationale in Nador, Morocco on 171 kHz

Europe 1 in Felsberg, Germany on 183 kHz

Rikisutvarpid RUV Ras 1 in Gufuskalar, Iceland on 189 kHz

BBC 4 in London, England on 198 kHz

RTL in Beidweiler, Luxembourg on 234 kHz

Radio Algerienne in Tipaza, Algeria on 252 kHz

Radio equipment used: ICOM IC-R8600 receiver, 80-meter dipole antenna, ICOM IC-AH700 disco antenna.

Antenna Weirdness

I was monitoring an unknown station on the FM band using my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM IC-AH-7000 VHF/UHF discone antenna. The station was weak and not intelligible enough to identify due to splatter from a strong station on the next FM channel.

Just for laughs, I switched to my Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A HF vertical antenna and the station's signal improved dramatically and I was able to identify it.

I would have never expected a HF vertical to perform better than a VHF/UHF antenna on the FM band. Go figure!

For the record, here are my latest new loggings:

WYPH-LPFM on 102.5 MHz transmitting 100 watts from Manchester, Connecticut, 25 miles to the east-northeast (Antenna: Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A)

WNHA-LPFM on 107.5 MHz transmitting 26 watts from New Haven, Connecticut  23 miles to the south  (Antenna: ICOM IC-AH-7000)

YBM on 230 kHz transmitting 25 watts from St. Bruno de Guigues, Quebec, 514 miles to the north-northwest (Antenna: 80-meter inverted Vee)

CN on 235 kHz transmitting 100 watts from Cochrane, Ontario, 644 miles to the north-northwest (Antenna: 80-meter inverted Vee)

YBG 356 kHz transmitting 250 watts from Saguenay-Bagotville, Quebec, 471 miles to the north (Antenna: 80-meter inverted Vee)