Hi Charles,
That is an interesting question which I can not answer. I
hope someone else can.
However, I can tell you that a significant amount of aurora
is completely "missed" in North America. I was not
listening last night, but over the past few months there
have been several occasions when W1XR/b was in quite strong
on aurora and there was ZERO QSO activity taking place.
Perhaps this is related to [what I perceive as] a general
decrease in routine VHF weak signal activity in the
northeast. A decade or so ago, very few auroras were
completely missed as there were several stations on every
night CQing, lurking, waiting... and if the K index was 4
or above they spent a lot of time CQ'ing with antennas
pointed north in hope of catching a bit of aurora. It seems
these days unless it is an unusually intense aurora, no one
notices (or cares?). I don't know for sure what factors
contribute to this, but I do know for certain many auroras
capable of supporting 144 MHz contacts go by without any
activity.
Not that I should talk about decreased activity! I've become
scarce on the bands myself, except for contests and MAJOR
propagation events!
73,
Paul N1BUG
On Wednesday 20 October 2004 12:44 pm,
Charles.Morrison@apcc.com wrote:
> Aurora range question:
>
> The noaa.gov site states
> " ( Keep in mind that aurora can still be viewed when
> it's position is 4 to 5 degrees of latitude away from the
> viewer,
> although it will appear [at ] about 20
> degrees above the horizon.)"
>
> Q: >>>>How far away from the visual Aurora can VHF QSOs
> be made ?<<<< By degrees or miles/km.
>
>
>
> According to the link on the N1BUG page, there was
> some aurora down to about 59degrees latitude last night.
> But, no spots were found for NA VHF QSOs.
>
>
> Charles Morrison
>
> Amateur Radio callsign: N1RR
>
> http://www.apc.com
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