Does open bands cause bad weather after a day or so after open bands?

[bravo14]

Hero to all,
I live in Panama City Fl since 2012 I noticed the past few years I’ve been getting open bands than a day or so later it storms like crazy. Example last week bands were open up and sun night into mon morning it was lighting so bad felt like a war zone going on. Mon night - Wed mornings bands were open up from La-Ga yesterday in my area had nasty storm come through even tornadoes I was by one like a quarter of a mile from it. Can this cause bad weather when bands are open up?

 

[nd5y]

You have it backwards. Certain types of weather can cause band openings.

 

[doctordialtone]

Can this cause bad weather when bands are open up?

Yes - same thing happens to me when I take out the golf clubs.

 

[bravo14]

You have it backwards. Certain types of weather can cause band openings.

I didn’t think of that way

 

[bravo14]

Yes - same thing happens to me when I take out the golf clubs.

I’m about to swing some clubs myself in a hour.

 

[mtindor]

Here is a mildly useful tool for determining if you might have some good tropo (in realtime).

VHF Propagation Map

aprs.mennolink.org

Keep in mind that this is based upon Amateur Radio APRS propagation on 144.39 mHz. It's entirely possible for there to be great tropo on 144 mHz whilst tropo may not even be active in those same areas above 144 mHz. But, wtih that said, typically if you see really strong tropo in a region on this map, the tropo effects will likely extend all the way up into UHF / 700 / 700 mhz.

I recall looking at this map a night or two ago and was going to alert @bravo14 that he might want to be on the lookout for good tropo -- At that time there was an extremely large red area that spread out from FL and through AL to the west.

Mike

 

[nd5y]

APRS is on 144.39 MHz not 145.09.

Another mapping tool is http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

 

[mtindor]

APRS is on 144.39 MHz not 145.09.

Another mapping tool is http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

Ok, fixed. Of course, for the sake of band reference it makes no difference if it's 144 or 145 mhz. If there is tropo on 144, there is tropo on 145 lol.

DX Info Centre is nice, but oftentimes the predictions are fairly inaccurate -- likely because they are just that, predictions. It's nice to watch some realtime data.

QSO/SWL real time maps and lists is also useful for realtime info , although again based upon Amateur Radio activity. Tropo could be open somewhere, but if hams aren't communicating and spotting then the map would never reflect it.

We need a dxmaps.com specifically for scanner hobbyists who are tropo chasers. For instance, if I'm in East Ohio and I pick up a known DMR site over in Indiana, it would be great to have someplace to submit it to that would in turn map that tropo so that others could see there is a tropo opening between East Ohio and Indiana.

M

 

[mmckenna]

I have an AIS receiver up at one of my high sites at work.
Using the http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html, it matches up pretty nicely with what the AIS receiver sees. 500+ mile paths are not uncommon when the weather is cooperating.

 

[bob550]

Rather than band openings affecting weather, or vice versa, is there a possibility that geomagnetic storms affect both simultaneously; particularly with electrical storms?

 

[nd5y]

As far as I know geomagnetic storms (space weather) can only affect the ionosphere so they can't effect LOS paths or VHF and higher tropospheric propagation. Cellular and wireless companies sometimes blame poor service on sunspots or solar conditions which is BS.

 

[wa8pyr]

As far as I know geomagnetic storms (space weather) can only affect the ionosphere so they can't effect LOS paths or VHF and higher tropospheric propagation. Cellular and wireless companies sometimes blame poor service on sunspots or solar conditions which is BS.

Actually space weather can have an adverse effect on land mobile radio systems (including cellular and wireless), because of the effect it has on the satellites these systems rely on for synchronization and so on. For example, most simulcast sites these days get their synchronization timing from GPS rather than land-based stuff like rubidium standards.

System I used to manage had a rubidium standard which was eventually replaced by GPS; kind of a mixed blessing.

 

[ridgescan]

Yes - same thing happens to me when I take out the golf clubs.

HA I like that! For me it's almost always right after I wash my vehicle. Even if 3 different weather sites say "plenty of sunshine" there will at least be wet fog here just enough to screw up my job!

 

[nd5y]

Actually space weather can have an adverse effect on land mobile radio systems (including cellular and wireless), because of the effect it has on the satellites these systems rely on for synchronization and so on.

That's not the same thing. It's not affecting the LOS signals between the end users and base stations.

 

[kh6sz]

Hero to all,
I live in Panama City Fl since 2012 I noticed the past few years I’ve been getting open bands than a day or so later it storms like crazy. Example last week bands were open up and sun night into mon morning it was lighting so bad felt like a war zone going on. Mon night - Wed mornings bands were open up from La-Ga yesterday in my area had nasty storm come through even tornadoes I was by one like a quarter of a mile from it. Can this cause bad weather when bands are open up?

I've noticed that too over the years. Being on the Mississippi gulf coast, I routinely pick up sites all over Alabama, Louisiana, and sometimes Florida. When I get good long-distance reception, I look at the weather radar and 90% of the time there's a strong cold front coming my way from the west. I figured it must be a wall approaching that reflects all the signals back to me. However it works, that's my theory. Of course, most of the time it's late night or early morning, but I have 3 scanners on 24/7.

 

[wa8pyr]

That's not the same thing. It's not affecting the LOS signals between the end users and base stations.

That's splitting hairs. If the end users' device won't work right because sites are out of sync, it does have an effect. The end users won't care whether it's a storm front, tropo or space WX; if their devices don't work right it's immaterial to them where the WX is.

 

[gnuuser]

HA I like that! For me it's almost always right after I wash my vehicle. Even if 3 different weather sites say "plenty of sunshine" there will at least be wet fog here just enough to screw up my job!

for us it was always after we stripped the old roofing of in prep of a new roof.

 

[w4amp]

Live VHF/UHF/Microwave QSO maps

Good maps for each band 28 mhz to microwave. Even color coded for propagation type.

 

[kb5udf]

No, but IMHO the two events tend to share a common cause. Tropospheric ducting is related to temperature inversions, which often accompany frontal systems.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

They say that cell phones cause corona virus too.