2015-10-07

10 and 6 today : Aurora(l) E

So - today was a poor day for HF propagation, we have a major magnetic storm going on, so signals are down, bands closed or almost closed.

Well, even with my 3 band vertical for 6m/2m/70cm I could hear aurora signals for a little while. people not far away have been seeing the Aurora Borealis, a.k.a. Northern Lights.

Enter 10m : An otherwise closed band, it would seem, until a signal popped out of the noise, quite strongly. Local ? No, it came from Northern Norway (Narvik).

I was able to work a few stations in Northern Norway and Finland, I took to calling CQ for a while, and two OH stations came back. Not bad for an otherwise dead band.

Yes, I am aware that this can occur during auroras, so it is nice to see that there is also activity.

Morale : Never give up on 10m and 6m. Those bands have the magic of opening at unexpected times to unexpected places - well, sometimes.

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