Solar Flare?

[skeezix]

Wed evening (CST; Thrs morning UTC) was an odd night on MW.

Tuned into 740 hoping to hear CFZM from Toronto and it wasn't there. But, picked up WVLN from Illinois. They're supposed to be 7W, non-directional at that time (2347Z), but guessing they were still on daytime power. Short while later, heard KVOR from CO. CFZM was WAY down in a mish-mash of a mess. Then turned the loop to the NW and tried for KVOX in Fargo. Got it (it peaked right at the TOH too. Thanks ionosphere!). It was like this from 2230~0100 UTC. Then CFZM started coming up & being more reliable, but every once in a while, would fade out.

Not sure what was going on, but got 3 new stations last night, including that one in IL that would be difficult under normal circumstances.

[skeezix]

While I had thought to TUNE AROUND!, instead left it parked on 740 for the evening, as was finishing replacing capacitors in a TransOceanic H500. Only when I was hearing the oddball stations on 740, figured I'd better grab something before it was over. Checked a couple of the nearby Chicago stations quick, and heard them, so went back to work on the TO.

Have had the TO for a few years and one of the dial strings broke. Kept putting it off until I cracked under the pressure of it sitting there, idle. So, fixed the dial string, which was far, far easier than what I was expecting. While the chassis was out, I stared at the Black Beauties and decided it was best to get them all out of there while it was disassembled. Last night was the second night of that, and wanted to make it the final night. So little DXing, more soldering.

New caps in, checked the tubes and prayed the 1L6 ($$) was ok. All ok. Turned it on. A few seconds later, its happily playing and no random noise/smoke/fire/explosion. Tuned around on MW & SW, and all was well and certainly performing better with the new caps. Was trying for RNZI on 15720 last night, but the band was dead. After all, it is a TransOceanic and it needs to receive a transoceanic signal.

Compared the TO to the Sony 2010 when they were side by side. When only doing simple tests with by listening to them both, the TO does a very comparable job (notable strengths of the 2010: slightly better sensitivity, AM-sync, narrower bandwidth, slightly more directivity in antenna. With the latter two, those are also a benefit of the TO - wider bw sounds better and the less directivity means less turning of the radio).

Tonight will be exploring the MW band and hopefully its still confused. Probably not with the TO, but with a National NC-183D connected to a Wellbrook ALA1530S+. The 183D with that loop is killer.

[Chanter]

Capt. Radio, strange activity on 10mHz?  what did it sound like, or didn't you catch the details?  I'm curious whether you got another time signal, somebody goofing around with a boat radio, or just weird atmospherics. 

Things seem to have improved; CNR1 jammers are back as of last night, as is SLBC.  Still no sign of Radio Fana though, darnit. 

[Capt. Radio]

Chanter,

No, I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to the 10mhz details... (another dumb move). All I know is that it wasn't another time station.

Being honest w/ you, I don't know what CNR1 jammers, SLBC, or Radio Fana is. I guess I need to do a lot more reading on this forum. If you have some tips on some interesting things to try to listen to, that would be great.

I've been concentrating on pirates, 27mc propagation, and ham band activity for awhile now, so I'm "out of the loop" on many things.

[skeezix]

740 seems weird again tonight (11/16/13 @ 0000 UTC). CFZM is weak with deep fades. Hearing another CBX on there, plus other indeterminate ones.

[redhat]

I did notice that WWV on 5 MHz was particularly strong last night, also cuba on 5025 was coming in great and fade free.  I contemplated "playing" tonight, but the A index was kinda high so I decided against it.  I have lots of QSL's to catch up on anyway.

+-RH

[Chanter]

Capt. Radio, SLBC is Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, basically Radio Sri Lanka.  They're not the easiest catch in the world; it really depends on how conditions to south Asia are on a given evening.  Radio Fana is a broadcaster out of Ethiopia, and even trickier to hear than Sri Lanka!  They're right in the middle of the 40 meter ham band, which can cause some problems, clear path or no.  As for CNR1 jammers . . . oof!  Those are broadcasts of China National Radio 1, which in itself is perfectly legit, used by the authorities over there to jam Voice of Tibet, Sound of Hope, and Mandarin/Uighur/Tibetan broadcasts from other countries - Taiwan, the States, France and Britain come to mind.  I think they've stepped on Australia's broadcasts in Mandarin too.  An all-around pain in the... er, ears.   

As for signals to try for, Radio Nacional da Amazonia is pretty reliable, either on 11780kHz or 6180kHz, depending.  Cuba and China are all over the darn dial.  Romania is usually audible, either on 40 or 31 meters - I need to check their B13 schedule for exact frequencies and times.  Hmm, let's see.  Greece on 9420kHz is also pretty solid, at least here in the Midwest.  Your mileage may very well vary depending on where you're located. 

Watch out for the religious broadcasters from here in the States.  They're loud, and they've got a tendency to be quite fringe.  My take on things, not anything official (don't thrash me, folks).