HF Propagation and Eclipse 2017 Dr. Rob Suggs KB5EZ Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 20 Oct. 2017 https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/aug-21-solar-eclipse-from-ground-and-space
Fundamentals Shake an electron and you get electromagnetic waves Expose an electron to electromagnetic waves and it shakes, making more waves Called a Hertzian dipole Solar UV and X-rays knock electrons off the neutral atoms and molecules Free electrons in the ionosphere get shaken by your RF and emit some more RF The density of the electrons, the density of neutrals around them, and the magnetic field all affect the way they move and emit RF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dipole_antenna KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 2
The sun is the driver of ionospheric density It follows an 11 year cycle, on average https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/solar_cycle KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 3
https://sail.msfc.nasa.gov/ KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 4
Forecast based on historical observations, not physics https://sail.msfc.nasa.gov/ KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 5
KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 6
Ionosphere and HF propagation VHF/UHF 20m 80m D layer causes absorption of lower bands F layer causes skip wiki.robotz.com https://www.oa-roma.inaf.it/cvs/ionsphere2_ev.html KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 7
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/images/sunbathing/sunspectrum UV Ionizes the F layer X-rays ionize the D layer F10.7 or SFI 2800 MHz solar radio noise. Correlated With EUV KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 8
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/sunearthsystem/atmospheric-layers.html KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 9
The eclipse turned off the sun for a time KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el3zowm5bh4 KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 11 DSCOVR
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-eclipse-2017-umbra-viewed-from-space KB5EZ October Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 12 ISS
Ionosphere Response to Eclipse IRTAM model f o F2 critical frequency of the F2 layer (nf2 ~ f o F2 2 ) KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 13
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/sdos-view-of-the-aug-21-2017-solar-eclipse-animation KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 14 Solar Dynamics Observatory
WSJT-X WSPR Mode KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 15
WSPR ops for Eclipse 2017 80m NN4SA Tx 40m KB5EZ Tx 30m KB5EZ Rx 20m KB5EZ Rx MSFC ARC MSFC Lunar Obs. QTH Madison, AL QTH Madison, AL FT-950 FT-897 FTDX-3000 Ten Tec Rebel Dipole Portable dipole Dipole MA5B small beam 1662 spots, 47 calls 5247 spots, 52 calls 5644 spots, 195 calls 5449 spots, 347 calls KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 16
WSPR transmission and spot structure In a 2 minute cycle, you transmit callsign, grid square, and transmit power in dbm (db relative to a milliwatt) KB5EZ EM64 37 5 watts (5000 mw) Power Dist Hdg Spot # Unix Time Rx grid SNR freq Tx grid dbm drft km deg Band s/w ver error 894011657,1503106080,KB5EZ,EM64pr,-17,14.097161,N8LI, FN41fl,37,-1,1521,245,14,1.8.0-rc1,0 894012063,1503106200,KB5EZ,EM64pr,-20,14.09709, W5EK, EM10ci,37, 0,1146, 62,14,1.8.0-rc1,0 894013531,1503106320,KB5EZ,EM64pr, -1,14.09711,K1EHZ, FN42ex,37,-4,1592,240,14,1.8.0-rc1,0 894013510,1503106320,KB5EZ,EM64pr,-24,14.09705, K5XL, EM12kp,33, 0, 991, 74,14,1.8.0-rc1,0 894013543,1503106320,KB5EZ,EM64pr,-26,14.09717,KB5FIO,EM10cg,23, 0,1151, 62,14,1.8.0-rc1,0 22 million spots from 1 August to 23 August KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 17
WSPR Propagation Plot 80m band (3.5 MHz) KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 18
VOACAP Software 80m 21 August 2017 KB5EZ to K9AN KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 19
80m 40m 30m 20m 20
WSPR Signal to Noise Ratio vs Time 80m Range Heading Illinois Grid Start End Day after KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 21
WSPR Signal to Noise Ratio vs Time 80m Reduced D-layer attenuation (from X-rays) at mid-eclipse, stronger signal KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 22
WSPR SNR vs Time 7.0MHz Signal is attenuated due to F layer Reduction at higher frequency KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 23
30m Attenuation due to F layer reduction KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 24
20m KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 25
Summary Solar activity affects the ionosphere which affects HF propagation The 2017 total solar eclipse provided an excellent laboratory for investigating these effects It appears that electron density reduction in the D layer allowed better propagation at 80m It appears that electron density reduction in the F layer caused slightly worse propagation at 40, 30, and 20m This is only for WSPR data where my station was at one end, conclusive results will be from ALL of the data KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 26
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/itm-processes.html KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 27
eol.jsc.nasa.gov/video/crewearthobservationsvideos/ ISS Expedition 31 May 22, 2012 KB5EZ October 2017 Huntsville Amateur Radio Club Meeting 28