Topband: Aurora Sighting

[Thomas Giella]

   Here in Plant City, Fl. at 28 deg. north lat. at 10:45 pm on Saturday
7/15/00 I can see a faint reddish pink neon type glow on my north
horizon at about 10-20 degrees above the horizon. I live in a dark sky
rural area which aids in observation. I also observed the March 1989
Aurora.
   With the K index at 9 at 2100 UTC which equates to a severe
ionospheric magnetic storm, the expected ionospheric effect would be the
shattering of the F layer and henceforth no HF propagation on the higher
bands.
   Quite to the contrary though I am observing signals albiet fluttery
on 15/13 meters (21 mhz) and 17/19 meters (15-18 mhz). What a surprise.
   Everything seems normal on 160 meters (1.8 mhz) and the medium wave
broadcast band (530-1700 kc), as expected. You would normally expect
signals from the north to be missing with Caribbean, Central and South
American stations dominating, as the initial solar flare arrives, as the
D layer overionizes absorbing most or all signals as high as 40 or 20
meters (7-14 mhz).
  

Take Care,

Thomas Giella, KN4LF


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