Fears of disruption as big solar storm set to hit Earth

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17295337

A strong solar storm is expected to hit Earth shortly, and experts warn it could disrupt power grids, satellite navigation and plane routes.
The storm - the largest in five years - will unleash a torrent of charged particles between 06:00 GMT and 10:00 GMT, US weather specialists say.

Another one..and again it's a big one..

It means there is a good chance of seeing the northern lights at lower latitudes, if the skies are clear.
The effects will be most intense in polar regions, and aircraft may be advised to change their routings to avoid these areas.
In the UK, the best chance to see them will be on Thursday night, the British Geological Survey says

Sadly it would seem we won't be having the clear skies required to see any such effects.

[Kymmy]

Time to get the radios fired up

[pabscars]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Time to get the radios fired up

Why is that then Kymmy, is it to listen into the interference or something

[Kymmy]

Sunspots/solar flares react with the different layers in the ionosphere causing them to bounce back radio waves (different layers bounce back radio waves at different frequencies) Which means that instead of line of site for some frequencies they go up and bounce back down and then sometimes bounce back up and down again. Which means that instead of for example 60+ miles on average for VHF you can all of a sudden get 1000+ miles.

So what's bad for standard comms can be great for amateur radio

[Russ]

And DXing CB users

[Kymmy]

11m tend to be up this time of the year anyway.. Been listening to the freebander nets on 27.500Mhz

[Russ]

I'm tempted to fire up my old Cobra 148 with the Antron 99 and blast out some SSB

Might need some TVI filters though..

[Kymmy]

Unlike the old TV's where your voice would come through the speaker that won't happen with digital TV's, they might just pixilate or go blank for a few seconds. Just get a lowpass filter (cut-off at 30+Mhz) for between the radio and antenna and you should be fine

---------- Post added at 12:18 ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 ----------

Opened up a new CB thread as it's getting a bit OT in here

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/22...l#post35395427

[watzizname]

I too miss the Skip.. and the QSL cards confirming it.

Anyway, back on topic.

So this solar storm should be doing it's thing, even as i type this.. right?

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by watzizname

So this solar storm should be doing it's thing, even as i type this.. right?

Go in a dark room and see if you're glowing in the dark.. if you are then probably YES

[joglynne]

Does anyone know of a site where we can see the progress of these Solar Storms?

I'm not being an aluminum hat wearer just interested in the way it is all tracked.

If anyone does want to read the outpourings of the doom and gloom brigade this is a good read.

[watzizname]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Go in a dark room and see if you're glowing in the dark.. if you are then probably YES

Hey, thanks. I'll do just that..

Although, probably best i wait for the Ready Brek to wear off first

We're all gonna dieeee!!!!

[Gary L]

No we're not. calm down!!!!

[denphone]

No l am not ready to die.