The AM Forum

SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: Giant sunspot AR3664 has now hurled at least four CMEs directly toward Earth. Their combined arrival this weekend could spark severe (G4-class) geomagnetic storms with mid- to low-latitude auroras. Although this is a potentially significant space weather event, it is not going to be the next Carrington Event. If the coming storm were a hurricane, it would be ranked category 4, not category 5.
Wonder what that will do on the bands?



https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-watch-effect-may-11

  A similar event happened last weekend. I went to check in on our local 75m AM net at 0800, and it was like someone had rolled up the band like an old carpet—dead silence—and the spectrum display was totally blank; not a signal visible across the entire band. It's the magic of radio.

Go to Walmart and get protection:

(https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/6d4efc29-0c77-474c-9288-8d9ecb6600c3.195238ae6cc12113355d898f79669f72.jpeg?odnHeight=2000&odnWidth=2000&odnBg=FFFFFF)

the storm pretty much killed the AM BCB last night.  Only the big guns could be heard and were weak.

Frequency and time of the net?

ITS TO LATE! CME already ate forty meters! couple nets this morning was able to only work one station and did not hear much else, CHU on 7850 that's always booming in here is gone, is this indeed the end?

 It doesn't look promising for tomorrow morning's AM Carrier net on 3835 at 0800 here in the Northeast.

I'm gonna cut the soles off of my shoes, live in a tree and learn to play the flute!

Went on 6 meters late Friday afternoon just after the storm hit.  The CW section between 50.080 and 50.100 was a pandemonium of mushy King Spark sounding CW signals.  Pointed my little 2 element beam north and worked about 40 stations as far as Minnesota (K0SF, an early morning 75 meter AMer), down to VA, all over the northeast and up to Maine, PEI, Nova Scotia, Michigan, Ontario, and Illinois.  Things fizzled out around 1930 EDT.  Not sure why. Never saw any aurora as it was very cloudy.  Same locals caught some good images around 0330 EDT Saturday morning when cloud cover apparently broke up.

75 meters was nearly totally wiped when I tried to call up the Lonely Guys prenet at 0715  EDT Saturday morning.  What little propagation existed went down the drain at about ten
minutes to 8 when another XClass X-ray flare hit.  Another big GM storm is predicted for Monday. Buckle up!

I heard the CW and a few SSB stations, called but never got a QSO. Found out later I was supposed to point the beam north. I had it aimed south! Live and learn... 

That would have worked if you ran tons of power. There was high intensity aurora around the South Pole too.
We have the Aurora maps in real time under Band Watch  6 and 2 Meters: http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=38072.0

NOT MUCH NOW AT THE SOUTH POLE:
(https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/animations/ovation/south/latest.jpg)

NOT MUCH NOW AT THE NORTH POLE EITHER:
(https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/animations/ovation/north/latest.jpg)

NOTE THAT AURORA IS FAIRLY COMMON BUT INTENSITY VARIES GREATLY.