Thread by @johnkonrad

So just for context this is a Ham Radio operator’s dream. Here’s a 🧵why:

During the solar storm the ham bands are nearly unusable because the sun’s electrical discharge overpowers radio wave. Not good for radio but…

Solar energy not only powers our planet but also energizes the upper atmosphere. After a storm, this energy can create a temporary ionized layer of “crust” around the Earth.

This ionosphere acts like a reflective barrier for radio waves, including those from ham radios. Normally, these waves might escape into space, but with this "reflective crust," they can travel further around the Earth.

So when the “crust” gets really charged less of your radio’s power gets lost to space

So you don’t need a huge antenna and thousands of watts per station like the AM antennas you see driving down the New Jersey Turnpike

On Monday you should be able to reach across continents with just 100 watts of power and a portable antenna that you can drive to a hill or mountain top

And it’s not just the power. Long distance radio requires very long wavelengths. Long wavelengths require long antennas.

But with the “crust” charged shorter wavelengths that would typically go out in space start to bounce… so a shorter antenna works well.

So come Monday we should have excellent conditions to make DX (long distance) contacts.

Here’s my reach with 100 watts and a 100 foot antenna strung from a tall tree in Massachusetts last week.

Monday I should be able to reach further

This is important because ham radio is like an expensive game of pokeman for science nerds. You “gotta catch them all”. All nations on earth.

Here are my QRZ radio awards showing I have “mastered” most of Americas and Europe

But I only have 37 out of the 54 nations the ham radio community recognizes in Asia

I only have 13 out of 60 entities in Oceania

And 29 out of 76 entities in Africa

Some of these, like tiny Bouvet Island, will be impossible to get regardless of the solar configuration because they don’t have a radio station so you have to wait until someone lands there with a radio.

And when someone does every ham around the world tries to reach them

The Ham bands are all “closed” right now because they are overpowered by the sun BUT once this storm dissipates that outer crust will be charged like a battery so I and thousands of other hams will be on our radios reaching far off places around the 🌎

P.S. you can track my progress next week via my QRZ profile under ham radio callsign K5HIP

qrz.com/db/K5HIP

P.S.2 that is unless the solar storm gets so big it burns out the ham radios (and most other electronics)

This is a very low probability event but I do have a backup radio protected inside a faraday cage just in case.

Here’s the article I wrote about a possible worst case scenario:
gcaptain.com/could-an-elect…

P.S.3. If you want to learn more I highly suggest browsing around the HRCC channel on YouTube and subscribing to their free discord group:

youtube.com/@hamradiocrash…

Finally in the event of a really big storm or an enemy EMP strike Ham Radio operators will be 💯 needed to reach Navy ships and coordinate merchant shipping. But the US Navy foolishly canceled it’s Military Amateur Radio Service (MARS) in 2015

Please send your congressman @BrianKerg’s A+ article below and ask them fund the reopening of this critical service which will save the lives of sailors and assure critical goods will make it to 🇺🇸 ports.

usni.org/magazines/proc…