++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 14:07:15 -0500 From: Pete Burbank To: "Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion" Subject: [121994] Re: Hearing the ocean on my radio Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.0.20020313135500.025f3e00 at KIH.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed At 10:41 AM 3/13/2002 -0500, Alex wrote: >Hi there, > >I was working PSK31 this past weekend on 10 meters and noticed that the >background noise was changing rapidly. I don't mean PSK31 signal. It >sounded like the waves rolling in at the beach. This is probably a dumb >question, but is this due to propagation changes or could it be that the >AGC is reacting to some signal that's outside the audio passband? > >I noticed the same thing on 20 meter, but the changes in noise level >were much less rapid. > >Thanks, >--Alex Alex and gang, At one time when 30 Meters was first allowed I had a sked with a guy in Florida. We both used to hear it quite often. At that time the sunspot numbers were low. Yes it sounds like surf and surely a propagation event. BTW not a dumb question! 73 Pete NV4V ++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 01:41:37 -0600 From: Steve Yates To: QRP-L Distibute Subject: [122058] Re: Hearing the ocean on my radio Hi Alex, The "ocean waves" that you heard on 10m may have been created by a solar flare. The radio emissions from a solar flare are generally be very pronounced on 10m and 6m. The emissions do also occur on the lower bands but normal atmospheric noise or ionospheric absorption and/or shielding can make them difficult to detect. What is cool is that when you hear the rise in the noise floor it can often be correlated to an announced solar flare. It usually sounds as if the receiver's own internal noise floor is simply rising to a high level and your S-meter will get a rise. There are several types of radio emissions generated during a solar flare and it can be very interesting trying to detect them. Other interesting natural solar related emissions can be heard in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum too. It is very simple to build an IR detector that can detect some of the most unusual of these signals from the sun. See http://www.qsl.net/aa5tb/signal03b.wav to hear some of the weird stuff. Steve Yates AA5TB aa5tb at arrl.net Fort Worth, TX - Grid EM12hu http://www.qsl.net/aa5tb/ +++++++++++++++++++