In years past, I could pick up WBCQ 7.415 here in NYC...
al night long.
Now it evaporates into static at about 22:00 U.T.C.

Many other stations such as BBC on 5.975 from Antigua are coming in
poorly , if at all.

Has there been some big, long lasting
solar disturbance over the past few months ; or a Change in the
Ionosphere Etc??

Any information or links to same would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan / NYC

wrote:

In years past, I could pick up WBCQ 7.415 here in NYC...
al night long.
Now it evaporates into static at about 22:00 U.T.C.

Many other stations such as BBC on 5.975 from Antigua are coming in
poorly , if at all.

Has there been some big, long lasting
solar disturbance over the past few months ; or a Change in the
Ionosphere Etc??

Any information or links to same would be appreciated.

Two words: Study propagation.

It can work for you, and it can work against you.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

wrote in message
oups.com...

In years past, I could pick up WBCQ 7.415 here in NYC...
al night long.
Now it evaporates into static at about 22:00 U.T.C.

Many other stations such as BBC on 5.975 from Antigua are coming in
poorly , if at all.

Has there been some big, long lasting
solar disturbance over the past few months ; or a Change in the
Ionosphere Etc??

Any information or links to same would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan / NYC


We're getting close to the bottom (worst) of an 11-year cycle. After we
bottom out, things will start to get better again (in theory at least!)

Mark.
Auckland
New Zealand.

Found a link to a picture..describes Propagation by frequecy; etc..


http://www.ips.gov.au/Main.php?CatID...ospheric%20Map

- My question is:
WHY has propagation been so Fu*k*d up.. during the last year?? ??

It is a scientific fact recently discovered, that the earth's magnetic field
is steadilly weakening. They think it is because the polarity of the field
is changing: they call it a "reversal". Be that as it may, it is my feeling
that it is real and causing shortwave reception to degrade because the
ionosphere is affected by the magnetic field.

I used to think that the magnetic field was quite uniform, unmoving and
static but scientists have found that is not the case at all. Bottom line is
that charged particles react to magnetic fields. The reflective layer is a
layer of particles of the atmosphere that results from solar radiation of
many forms stripping electrons off the particles.

Think of the layer of charged particles as a mirror. If the mirror is in a
quiet stream, light reflecting off the mirror will be uniform. If the stream
is ruffled or full of eddies and the bottom is full of rocks, the light will
be disturbed by the stream and not uniform at all. If the light in the
analogy is the radio energy (radio waves if you like), then any ruffling or
movement in the layer is going to ruffle the signal too, so it may fade in
and out or be fluttery or full of static and so on. If the magnetic field of
the earth is moving and changing a lot in different ways in different
places, a lot of radio energy is either being lost into space or absorbed.
It is a bit like two people holding a big sheet of aluminum foil between
them and moving it around in the sun. If the foil is held still, the stream
of reflected light is quiet and steady, but if the foil is moving around in
a stiff wind, the light will go all over the place, not necessarilly into
the viewer's eyes.

This may be just temporary, or it may be a long term effect, but one thing
is certain, the environment in which we live is affected by physical forces
in continual flux. If the "reversal" occurs in our lifetime, it may get very
interesting. The same magnetic field on which we have come to rely for
communications also protects the planet from harmful radiation such as
x-rays and ultraviolet light. That means if the field diminishes or
disappears, so will our protection from radiation. You can find a lot on the
internet about the subject of pole reversals if you want to study the
subject.

~~~~~ God gives peace not war +
wrote in message
oups.com...


Found a link to a picture..describes Propagation by frequecy; etc..


http://www.ips.gov.au/Main.php?CatID...ospheric%20Map

- My question is:
WHY has propagation been so Fu*k*d up.. during the last year?? ??

I found one bit you can read about reversal of earth's magnetic field:
http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php...ro&Number=2107


~~~~~ God gives peace not war +
"ShortwaveMan" wrote in message
ink.net...
It is a scientific fact recently discovered, that the earth's magnetic
field is steadilly weakening. They think it is because the polarity of the
field is changing: they call it a "reversal". Be that as it may, it is my
feeling that it is real and causing shortwave reception to degrade because
the ionosphere is affected by the magnetic field.

I used to think that the magnetic field was quite uniform, unmoving and
static but scientists have found that is not the case at all. Bottom line
is that charged particles react to magnetic fields. The reflective layer
is a layer of particles of the atmosphere that results from solar
radiation of many forms stripping electrons off the particles.

Think of the layer of charged particles as a mirror. If the mirror is in a
quiet stream, light reflecting off the mirror will be uniform. If the
stream is ruffled or full of eddies and the bottom is full of rocks, the
light will be disturbed by the stream and not uniform at all. If the light
in the analogy is the radio energy (radio waves if you like), then any
ruffling or movement in the layer is going to ruffle the signal too, so it
may fade in and out or be fluttery or full of static and so on. If the
magnetic field of the earth is moving and changing a lot in different ways
in different places, a lot of radio energy is either being lost into space
or absorbed. It is a bit like two people holding a big sheet of aluminum
foil between them and moving it around in the sun. If the foil is held
still, the stream of reflected light is quiet and steady, but if the foil
is moving around in a stiff wind, the light will go all over the place,
not necessarilly into the viewer's eyes.

This may be just temporary, or it may be a long term effect, but one thing
is certain, the environment in which we live is affected by physical
forces in continual flux. If the "reversal" occurs in our lifetime, it may
get very interesting. The same magnetic field on which we have come to
rely for communications also protects the planet from harmful radiation
such as x-rays and ultraviolet light. That means if the field diminishes
or disappears, so will our protection from radiation. You can find a lot
on the internet about the subject of pole reversals if you want to study
the subject.

~~~~~ God gives peace not war +
wrote in message
oups.com...


Found a link to a picture..describes Propagation by frequecy; etc..


http://www.ips.gov.au/Main.php?CatID...ospheric%20Map

- My question is:
WHY has propagation been so Fu*k*d up.. during the last year?? ??

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/reversals.html
The link above gives some information about pole reversals.

~~~~~ God gives peace not war +
wrote in message
oups.com...

In years past, I could pick up WBCQ 7.415 here in NYC...
al night long.
Now it evaporates into static at about 22:00 U.T.C.

Many other stations such as BBC on 5.975 from Antigua are coming in
poorly , if at all.

Has there been some big, long lasting
solar disturbance over the past few months ; or a Change in the
Ionosphere Etc??

Any information or links to same would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan / NYC

There was a TV documentary regarding the possibility of a magnetic pole
reversal and its effects on either PBS or the Discovery Channel about a year
ago. There's proof of fluctuations, but no proof that a true reversal is
happening... but it was agreed the earth is well overdue for one.

"ShortwaveMan" wrote in message
ink.net...

It is a scientific fact recently discovered, that the earth's magnetic
field is steadilly weakening. They think it is because the polarity of the
field is changing: they call it a "reversal".

In article .com, says...


In years past, I could pick up WBCQ 7.415 here in NYC...
al night long.
Now it evaporates into static at about 22:00 U.T.C.

Many other stations such as BBC on 5.975 from Antigua are coming in
poorly , if at all.

Has there been some big, long lasting
solar disturbance over the past few months ; or a Change in the
Ionosphere Etc??

God hates us.

At least for the moment.



FW

Thing is...The low bands are as good as it gets right now.
It's not a total bummer. When the MUF drops low, just drop
frequency. The low bands are in the best shape, in the low
part of the cycle. Being it's winter in NA, it's prime time
for the low bands...Right now. Being I prefer low bands to
high, I'm glad the solar cycle is where it is... Need more
frigid arctic wx to kill the lightning in the US...MK