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Aurora alert 10/5

C

crainbebo

G3-class storm and CME striking within hours. Biggest flare of Cycle 25 (X9.9!!), biggest since September 2017. Southerly DX will be very much possible for anyone below the Canadian border, and I will be checking the FM dial for Au DX. I'm in a very quiet location here in west central Idaho.
scitechdaily.com

Sun Unleashes Monumental X9.0 Solar Flare – Most Intense in 7 Years – Captured by NASA Observatory

The Sun unleashed a powerful X9.0 solar flare, the most intense in over 7 years. On October 3, 2024, the Sun emitted an exceptionally powerful X9.0 solar flare, peaking at 8:18 a.m. ET. This event, captured vividly by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, now stands as the most intense solar flare o
scitechdaily.com
 
Auroral DX just went CRAZY!

FM with several new stations for the logbook!
- KKNU 93.3 Springfield OR "New Country 93.3"
- KIOI 101.3 San Francisco 'Star 101.3'
- KFRC 106.9 San Francisco w/ traffic report
- KNLR 97.5 Bend OR, stream match (heard constantly by aircraft scatter here)
- tentative on KOOS 107.3 Coos Bay OR
- KSNE 106.5 Las Vegas!!! 36 N latitude. Vegas34.com, traffic report, ad for law office 702 area code. All on tape!
- KRRX 106.1 Burney CA '106X' TOH ID

I'd say 50 channels are full of Au DX or hash. Cascade is a great DX spot. Imagine a top-of-band e-skip opening.

Noticing (likely) KVNR-1480 Santa Ana CA all alone w/ Asian talk. Haven't checked AM as much.
 
It did. You just had to get out of light pollution which isn't easy in northern CA. Northern lights seen to Tallahassee FL and Austin TX. Which is below 30N.
 
Here in central Ohio, there were lots of reports of the Northern Lights ... I did not see them myself ... but DX wasn't affected all that much. WGN, WJR, WABC, WCBS, WMVP, etc. were all still very much present around 11 last night.
 
The AM band seemed semi-Au to even 'meh-normal' after about 9PM or so. Why not a near-total wipeout, I wonder? That's what happened in May. K level was 8 and it was a G4 storm. That would almost guarantee majority-groundwave on AM.
Some FM channels had 2-3 stations mixed, sounding like a regional AM frequency with the static and muffled audio. Au can be as short as 250 miles (thus the Bend OR at 262 mi) but can be in the 800-1000 mi. range as well. I had KCGY Laramie on 95.1 in the G5 extreme aurora in May, and from Yakima WA that's 835 mi.

Also had tentative reception last night on an old scatter pest from WA. A traffic report on 97.7, too muffled to hear much except "northbound" and "slow-going"...very likely KNWN Oakville WA. I had several stations on 106.9, one of them sounded like John Tesh (likely KKRB Klamath Falls), and another one with Taylor Dayne's 'Tell It to My Heart' could have been Reno or Seattle. Local ads on 106.7 were too muffled at first but perhaps headphones could pick out some details. I didn't focus on low-band since it was well before the top of the hour and auroral propagation won't give you RDS. But there was muffled, noisy classical on 90.5 (not local), NPR on 91.3, more NPR and religious stations on 88.5, etc.
 
No Alberta on 660. Just KTNN and KGSV in CA. No CBK on 540. Just XESURF.
1210 is KGYN Guymon OK all alone. No Laramie.
KPHX-1480 Phoenix AZ with a female pastor in SS. Nothing else.

Strangely, Weiser ID SDR had the flea power (150 watts or so) signal of KVWM-970 Show Low AZ...my TEF pulls in KESP Modesto w/ Golden State Warriors basketball.
I'm also getting (on Weiser) Joe Pags on 940 mixed with KYNO Fresno's oldies. Likely KIXZ Amarillo TX
 
Current loggings, last 20-25 minutes or so from CASCADE on the TEF...

1400 KRZR Visalia CA 'Power Talk' with Jesse Kelly. HUGE signal
1390 KLTX Long Beach CA Inspiracion all alone
1380 KVSM Santa Maria w/ La Raza, also KLPZ Parker AZ with ID.
1410 KERI Bakersfield positive ID after Focus on the Family Minute
1300 KROP Brawley CA program match // KGBA FM, 40db+ signal!! 500 W!!
550 KUZZ Bakersfield mixed with something else
UNID SSer on 750 (KAMA El Paso?) very strong
620 KIGS CA and sports (probably KTAR)
1460 KION Monterey CA PowerTalk, iHeart references
1210 KRPU Rocklin CA solid, 500W 482mi
1180 KERN Bakersfield
and so on, so on... trying to ID an SSer on 1040 right now!
 
The 1040 is KURS San Diego on 61 watts!!! With ESNE Radio, // 880 KKMC, stream, worship music in SS!! WOW!

Also heard in the last 10 minutes or so:
750 KAMA El Paso w/ positive ID, sounded out like "Cama"...1KW 1024 mi.
730 XESOS Agua Prieta SON 'La Ranchera' positive ID! I have the 97.3 via Es from WA. Supposedly only 300 watts, at 976 miles! No sign of XEX either.

Remember...this is ALL NEW as I am in a completely different state and what not. Once I can get an SDR/external loop/hard drive to record TOH/BOH, a complete AM log can be compiled.

Weiser ID has a positive La Lupe ID on 720. This is XEDE Saltillo COAH. 250 W at 1,579 miles!!! Also XEITE-830 Mexico City with little interference.
add KBLU-560 Yuma "Glenn Beck, weekdays at 4, on News/Talk 560 KBLU" NO sign of San Francisco
106 watt KOFA-1320 Yuma is completely solid with jazz music // stream. This is one monumental Au opening. Meanwhile, underneath KOFA is the 500w. Palomar College station, KKSM Oceanside CA // stream with old soul music. Once again, WOW understates all of this...

KCEO 1000 Vista 'Relevant Radio', unid Regional Mexican on 650 with NO trace of Sacramento (it's very weak). Probably an XE. KNDN-960 Farmington NM w/ ID (on Weiser ID SDR)
 
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Didn't DX MW earlier tonight.... did tune through a couple SW bands and HF Ham bands. Heard an Argentine ham on CW on 20M, a couple hams from New England on CW, a guy in Yukon sending CQ on CW (no responses), some hams from Nebraska, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia.... But the 20 M band was really spare, considering the fact that the band was actually open.
 
There must have been some big-time auroral activity earlier this evening. Driving between northeast Ohio and Columbus for work, there was basically no east-west propagation to be heard until almost 9 p.m. New York, Chicago, WBZ and KMOX were all gone. I usually use WMVP and WBZ as gauges, but I first noticed it when I tried WFAN to hear the Yankees broadcast of tonight's ALCS game.
This also enhanced groundwave reception for stations like WLW, WJR, WKNR and WTAM into what would have been cancellation zones or, in WKNR's case, a southwesterly null that typically cuts off their signal coming in my direction.
By 9, just as I was getting back into the Columbus area, the band was opening up. WFAN and WCBS were still very weak, but WMVP and KMOX were much stronger.
North-south propagation was fine. WSM, WSB and WWL all were coming in very well.
 
schmave said:
There must have been some big-time auroral activity earlier this evening. Driving between northeast Ohio and Columbus for work, there was basically no east-west propagation to be heard until almost 9 p.m. New York, Chicago, WBZ and KMOX were all gone. I usually use WMVP and WBZ as gauges, but I first noticed it when I tried WFAN to hear the Yankees broadcast of tonight's ALCS game.
This also enhanced groundwave reception for stations like WLW, WJR, WKNR and WTAM into what would have been cancellation zones or, in WKNR's case, a southwesterly null that typically cuts off their signal coming in my direction.
By 9, just as I was getting back into the Columbus area, the band was opening up. WFAN and WCBS were still very weak, but WMVP and KMOX were much stronger.
North-south propagation was fine. WSM, WSB and WWL all were coming in very well.
Click to expand...
Do you hear KOA 850 most of the time?
 
I have, but it's rare and really weak. WKNR blasts into Columbus daytime but is gone as soon as the pattern changes. Last night, I was still hearing its groundwave more than 100 miles from Cleveland.
 
WKNR sends almost no signal toward Columbus at night. It is definitely rare to hear them down here after dark.
 
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