Topband: Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances

[Bill Tippett]

         Saw this on another reflector which made me
wonder if it could be the cause of poor conditions lately.
If it sounds intriguing, click the link for the full story:

NA5N wrote:
 >There have been some episodes over the past week of some very strange
Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances, or SIDs. These have not been caused
by solar flares or the like, but rather from GRBs ... Gamma Ray Bursts,
from very distant objects, like several hundred light years away.

 >The biggest recent event was on December 27, 2004 when a massive gamma
ray burst hit the earth about 2130 UTC from a Magnetar called
SGR-1806. This GRB was so powerful that it was able to ionize our
ionosphere, just like a solar flare, and cause ionospheric absorption
down to the VLF frequencies. This indicates a GLE, a Ground Level Event,
meaning the ionizing radiation from the GRB penetrated our atmosphere,
all the way to ground level.

http://www.kkn.net/archives/html/QRP-L/2005-01/msg00215.html

                                         73,  Bill  W4ZV