courtesy: https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ |
It seems that for the CLE236 listeners in western North America, my worst fears came true. The week preceding last weekend's listening event had seen great MF propagation and quiet geomagnetic conditions.
On Friday evening, shortly after the start, a geomagnetic storm commenced, with K-levels reaching 5-7 at various stations ... pretty much sounding the death knell once again. It seems more than coincidental that almost every CLE in the past few years has seen horrific geomagnetic conditions in lock-step with our scheduled monthly events!
Since there were no active regions on the Sun at the time, I suspect, as mentioned in my last blog, that we were victimized by a sudden spurt from the same coronal hole that whacked us last month, as it lined-up once again on its monthly reappearance. Arriving on Friday evening as sunset approached, the effects seemed to spare the rest of North America (and Europe), as western listeners were the only ones reporting poor propagation. As well, lightning noise, often abating by this time of the year, created havoc for many listeners ... even those with good propagation.
I can only hope that next month's event will see a major improvement in noise levels as well as in propagation quality. Hopefully, that pesky coronal hole will have closed itself by then!
On top of the above mentioned challenges, CLE236's frequency range was smack on top of my local pest, AP-378, whose antenna is less than one mile from my own antennas. Having an S9 +60db signal in the middle of the narrow CLE range does make for challenging listening. My 10' x 20' loop knocked AP's signal down about 25db, allowing me to hear the following signals, some only barely.
22 05:00 371 YK Yakima, WA, USA
22 07:00 371 GW Kuujjuarapik, QC, CAN
22 10:00 372 ZPA Prince Albert, SK, CAN
22 06:00 372 YCO Coppermine, NU, CAN
22 08:00 373 MF Table Rock, OR, USA
22 11:00 374 EX Kelowna, BC, CAN
23 11:30 374 EE Forada, MN, USA
22 11:00 375 FS Fort Simpson, NT, CAN
22 12:00 375 CP Casper, WY, USA
24 08:00 376 YAG Fort Frances, ON, CAN
22 07:00 376 K2 Olds-Didsbury, AB, CAN
23 06:00 378 OT North Bend, OR, USA
22 06:00 378 AP Mayne Island, BC, CAN
23 11:30 379 OW Owatonna, MN, USA
23 11:30 379 DL Duluth, MN, USA
23 05:00 380 GC Gillette, WY, USA
24 06:00 380 BBD Brady, TX, USA
22 07:00 382 YPW Powell River, BC, CAN
24 13:00 382 JNR Unalakleet, ALS
22 13:30 382 AW Marysville, WA, USA
22 07:00 383 PI Pocatello, ID, USA
22 07:00 383 CNP Chappell, NE, USA
See you in CLE237.