IMPROVED DAYTIME RECEPTION

THE SUN BRINGS SOME 

EXTRA DAYTIME SIGNALS 

FEBRUARY 2, 2014:  At 177, today's 10.7 cm solar flux was somewhat elevated. 

So…..what does that mean? 

Well, it's worth watching the solar flux numbers because they represent the amount of solar noise that is emitted from the sun at the wavelength of 10.7 cm (2800 mHz). It is measured and reported daily and used as a basic indicator of solar activity. At it's extremes, the range extends from below 50 to over 300, i.e. between very low and very high solar activity respectively. The solar flux is closely related to the ionisation of the F2 layer. The higher the solar flux, the better the reflection of shortwave radio waves from the ionosphere. In addition, due to this improved reflection, one usually sees an improvement in the the higher shortwave frequencies. 

There is a loose correlation between sunspot numbers and solar flux, due mainly to the fact that sunspots produce radio emissions at various wavelengths, including at 10.7 cm. But, high sunspot numbers do not always go hand-in-hand with high solar flux. So, when trying to predict how reception conditions might be, watching the solar flux figures is a better predictor than simply counting sunspots.

Two other figures to watch are the A-Index and K-Index. The A-Index measures the disturbance of the Earth's geomagnetic field and ranges from 0 to 400 (lower numbers are better). The related K-Index has a range of 0 to 9 and once again, lower numbers are better.

As I write this post, the A-Index is 5 and the K-Index is 2. So, with the three numbers listed above (solar flux, A and K indices), we can get a very simplistic indication that perhaps the Solar Gods may smile upon us today. 

So……from my listening post, did anything remarkable happen? Well, so far nothing spectacular. But here at Mount Evelyn, certainly quite a number of signals were observed right in the middle of our very hot summer day - signals that we don't always regularly hear on the bands at these times.  Here's a summary:

BETWEEN 0130 AND 0200 UTC (12:30 - 1:00pm AEDT)

11520   USA. WEWN - Vandiver, AL. Fair to poor signal, but very good for the middle of a summer's day at 0135, with religious programming. This and a very weak BBC - Kranji on 11955 were the only signals on the band at this time.

16mb:  Nearly every station that was scheduled to operate on this band at the time was able to be heard, including: 

• KSDA - AWR (Guam) on 17520, 17700 and 17880 kHz
• R. Pilipinas 17820 and NHK 17810 both s/on 0200
• VOA Tinang 17780, RFA and jammers 17535 and 17730,
• Plus numerous CRI and CNR channels, and R. Australia (including RA-Shepparton on 19000 kHz)

BETWEEN 0230 AND 0345 UTC (1:30 - 2.45pm AEDT)

The following stations were noted:

11620   INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Music in the Urdu service at 0320, fair to poor and a variable signal.

11740   INDIA. AIR - Aligarh. Music selections in the Dari service at 0324, variable signal ranging from fair to poor reception.

11800   ROMANIA. RRI - Tiganesti. Spanish service to SAm with a nice program of jazz piano music around 0327. Unfortunately, it was a poor signal for much of the time, but still good to hear this one breaking through in the middle of the summer day.

11840   INDIA. AIR - Delhi. Indian pop ballad at 0335 in the Hindi service to ME, poor to fair.

11870   USA. WEWN - Vandiver, AL. Hymns in the spanish service at 0341, weak signal in the noise.

15120   INDIA. AIR - Bengaluru. Music program at 0235 in the Kannada service to ME. Fair signal.

15195   JAPAN. NHK - Yamata. Japanese music at 0240, fair reception.

15230   CUBA. RHC - Havana. Spanish service at 0244 to SAm, fair to poor at this time, but interesting to hear it at all.

15310   THAILAND. BBC - Nakhon Sawan. English to SAs at 0247, at a fair level.

15460   PHILIPPINES. Vatican Radio - Palauig. Tamil to SAs 0255, fair signal.

15510   THAILAND.  BBC - Nakhon Sawan. Music program in the Hindi service to SAs at 0258, fair to poor reception.

15520   NORTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Tinian. Weak in Tibetan just prior to 0300, with jamming - and time pips at top of the hour - from CNR 1. Both RFA and jammer s/off at that point.

15580   USA. VOA - Greenville. S/on 0300 with English news to Af. Fair level.

15590   JAPAN. NHK - Yamata. Japanese to SAs, weak at 0205.

15640   PHILIPPINES. R. Pilipinas - Tinang. Filipino music program at 0308, fair signal.

15665   NORTH MARIANA IS. RFA - Agingan Point. Mandarin interview program program breaking throughout the CNR 1 jammer at 0311.

15680   PALAU. WHR - Medorn. English service with the Christian Worship Hour, with pleas for money at 0315, good signal.

PLUS six CNR channels and two CRI channels. ALSO the three R. Australia Shepparton parallel outlets of 15160, 15240 and 15415 kHz.

It could be well worth checking your radio over the next 24 hours to see if there are any improved or enhanced radio reception at your own location. If you notice anything unusual, tell us about it in the MEDXR blog!!

Good luck with your listening!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW