Big Solar Storm Heading To Earth

                  

   The past few days every time I looked at the internet while working on computers at work was the stories about the big solar storm heading towards earth. It was supposed to hit Saturday, which is today. Well so far so good in Rochester new York. I woke up this morning and neither the power went off and the clocks were all okay. I went to the barber shop to get my hair cut and they were watching the television sports channel on the satellite dish with no interference or loss of signal. Needless to say I am happy the power did not gout during my hair cut or I really would look funny. Then it would be time for a brush cut.



                  
                          Northern Lights show main result of massive solar storm hitting Earth
                                                                   by Canada news

   I came back home, turned on my computers and turned on the ham radio. I went through the various bands and so far so good. I am listening to the 20 meter band on 14300 Mhz ,which is the Maritime Network. There is the usual amount of noise for this time of year and signals are normal. I have noticed that in the past few days some ham radio operators have been speaking to other ham radio operators exclaiming that they usually don't hear that person. Maybe the solar storm is effecting the propagation while it was on it's way here. Who knows maybe I will hear some fellow Ham Radio Operators from other countries that I don't usually hear.
  I guess I will just have to wait and see how the weekend progresses. When most people hear that we are going to have a solar storm they wonder if it will hurt people and what should we do. Well as far as people themselves go it will not harm you. The problem is that it can affect the power grids. This means that the power could go out and we would be left in the dark. I would worry if you are driving and the power goes out so do the signal lights at traffic intersections for example. This could lead to bad accidents. If it were to happen my advise is to use extreme precaution and look out for your fellow human being. Below is a video on things that can be affected.

                  
                                                                             

    Okay so how does propagation get affected by the suns solar storm you may be asking. Well in the video below they are talking about field day and how it will be affected. The fellow in the video is Tomas Hood NW7US and he is an expert on space weather. He writes a column in CQ Magazine on space weather and he is very informative. I would look him up on youtube and check out his videos if you are interested in space weather. In any event check out the video below.

                

   Well the weather outside is not too bad today. It is pretty cool here in Rochester ny and the sun is trying to shine on and off through the clouds. It is getting closer to Fall and it looks like it could be an early one. Who knows so I just say take it as it comes and enjoy the day. If the power goes out spend the time with your family and friends. You can always as some Ham radio Operators say play Ham Radio on another day. You can always get a generator to power your Ham Shack if the power goes out.
  Well Thank You for reading from Dan KC2YTI 73s.