"Observe" August’s Eclipse with Your AM Radio

[skeezix]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/2017-total-solar-eclipse/how-to-hear-the-solar-eclipse/

[ChrisSmolinski]

Or on your Amalgamated DGPS Decoder!

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/dgps_decoding_software_sdr.html

[skeezix]

Or on your Amalgamated DGPS Decoder!

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/dgps_decoding_software_sdr.html

Y-E-S!

Things are set here to record the day on DGPS (assuming no power outages or stupid f*n winderz BS).

I'm taking the day off. This is too important.

[ChrisSmolinski]

Something else you can do (especially if your area is clouded over) is watch the eclipse via one of the GOES weather satellites, as the shadow tracks across the US.

[Ct Yankee]

I am also taking the day off.  If you want to get into an eclipse mindset, let me recommend the quick read American Eclipse by David Baron, published this year.  An account of the "chase" to cover the 1878 total eclipse in the wild west (many of the same areas as this eclipse) by such notables as Thomas Edison - fascinating story.

I am debating whether to carry a portable and spotting scope up a southwest facing 650 foot wooded hill that overlooks my neighborhood or stay home where the radio equipment is located.

For those that like to make plans, the next U.S. total eclipse (April 8, 2024) goes through Northern New England and New York, through Erie and Cleveland, and down through Missouri-Arkansas-Texas.  Undoubtedly, a lake effect spring snowstorm will be blotting the sky from Cleveland through Burlington on that day.

[Pigmeat]

I remember that 1970 eclipse. A house had burned just down the road a couple of weeks before. We were all standing in the road with our scavenged "smoked glass" blocking traffic, while we watched it.

I've got a sister that's in the path of totality. I'll probably run over there if I get ambitious. Of course, anything she walks past is in the path of totality.

[BoomboxDX]

So -- from this article -- it appears that the propagation expected on the AM band will be a bit different then one would normally think, i.e. it's apparently more important that the target station is located in the path of darkness than the receiver being located in the path of darkness. Cool.

There's a swath of Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming stations that just might be audible here where I live, depending on how strongly the eclipse affects their signals. Maybe KEX, KPNW, a few Salem and Oregon Coast stations, and possibly a couple in E. Oregon (there are a couple there that are usually audible here at night, even though they are 5 kW stations). I'll have my PR-D5 and Superadio switched on for sure.

[skeezix]

Data from NASA (IIRC), the eclipse starts on the west coast at 1604 UTC and ends on the east coast at 2009 UTC.

I want to record the whole MW band on the SDR during this time, but estimate that comes to about 168 GB of data. Sure better plan accordingly, and figure out which antenna to use. (In addition to the DGPS recordings)