Nice weather over Wales at the moment. Lots of upper HF propagation, too!
Not only that, but the noctilucent cloud season is well underway, with a nice display last (04/06/2021) evening.
Radar PMSE returns from 70 degrees north, in Norway, have been showing very strong ice formation at mesospheric height for several days, and it was very strong indeed yesterday. Due to the sun-NLC-observer geometry, that is the kind of overhead latitude that provide us with the beautiful 'space cloud' displays down here, in the UK, at night.
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| Spectacular ice formation and consequent MST radar return strength (Andoya, Norway). |
The pattern of Es propagation at 50MHz yesterday suggested a good possibility of NLC during the evening. Transatlantic propagation was very good in the morning, which then suddenly died and translated into a strong propagation to the east and northeast. With Es lying to the east of the UK, that meant the westerly flow would be bringing any attendant NLC over our way a few hours later.
And that is indeed what transpired! A beautiful and bright display that was strongest in the pre-local midnight sector:
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| 'Space clouds' grace the northern sky, 04/06/2021, 23:32UT. |
It proved to be a busy night: very strong propagation on 50MHz to the US just kept on going. I had to give up working an endless pile-up - I only have a two-element quad - at around 00UT, as I had NLC-watching duties to keep up!
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| Last evening's comings and goings on 6m (21-22UT, approx.) |
Nice John, I only managed to get 1 QSO with USA and 1 with Canada. Propagation was not as good as at your side. We had good propagation to the middle east this afternoon. Hope for some propagation to USA/West Indies this evening. 73, Bas
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