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| Terminator at peak spot strength from LU8DPV (00:38UT), beaming 135 degrees. |
Raul did not transmit until mid-evening in the UK, which was by arrangement.
Here is how the spots looked:
As last evening, there was only a small field disturbance at very high latitudes, the Kp being ~ 1, so the general situation was very quiet. The peak spot strength (a fairly strong -17dB SNR) was reached at 00:38UT. This coincides with the field restoring to quiet conditions - a phenomenon we see regularly in these studies. Plot shows Z (vertical) component:
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| Image: Tromso Geophysical Laboratory. |
The peak spot strength when beaming this superficially 'useless' direction is interesting, because at -17dB SNR, it precisely matches the -17dB SNR heard at the time (09:22UT) of morning grey line on 11/01/19, and these two spots are significantly stronger than other times of day, and also significantly stronger than at much the same time yesterday, when the beam heading was 335 degrees:
So we are left with the suspicion that propagation along the grey line to the northern hemisphere might be responsible for this path. The distance from my station to the grey line to the north of me at 00:38UT is 4500km, which is the typical maximum single hop distance from F2 height.
A quick look at the database (to be confirmed) this morning showed that I was the only one to hear Raul from within the 'dark side' at this time, and within a considerable period either side of 00:38UT.
The problem with this is that Raul continues to be able to get his signal into the local greyline well after 00:38UT, but I stop hearing him. This, despite the fact the distance from my antenna to my local greyline is decreasing.
So there must be some geomagnetic element to this path.
All I need now is a directive antenna for 14MHz. Plans are underway for something cheap and wind resistant: maybe a Moxon?
A bit busy this morning, so I will think and maybe write a bit more about this later today...
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