smokey bands?

[rjvalenta]

here i am in stl with a condition red for air conditions due to the smoke coming from canada, and i'm looking as pskreporter... and my 12m FT8 signal seems to be dead to the west and northwest... it's being heard in japan and brazil and florida and arizona and new jersey... but west/nw is empty.

obviously this could be anything from atmosphere to spots, but is it possible these fires are impacting radio signals?

73,

Richard
N0TZC

 

[WeldGuy]

Are you saying "The band is hot?"

 

[trentbob]

here i am in stl with a condition red for air conditions due to the smoke coming from canada, and i'm looking as pskreporter... and my 12m FT8 signal seems to be dead to the west and northwest... it's being heard in japan and brazil and florida and arizona and new jersey... but west/nw is empty.

obviously this could be anything from atmosphere to spots, but is it possible these fires are impacting radio signals?

73,

Richard
N0TZC

Yes. I'm in Southeastern pennsylvania. It's my opinion that atmospheric conditions can affect radio signals. Chicago and Detroit are experiencing the worst air pollution they ever had. Secondary to the fires in Canada..

A little north of me in New York City they're getting hit harder but not as bad as initially experienced a bit ago.

However, administration there has targeted wood burning stove Pizza restaurants LOL, in an attempt to improve air quality.

It all speak for itself.

Perhaps we should accelerate the program to mass murder more cows than we have been lately because of their f**ts. SMH.

You can't make this up.

 

[dlwtrunked]

No. Pollution is often the effect of an atmospheric inversion and the inversion can effect VHF/UHF propagation. And weather conditions that effect fire condition can affect propagation. But this does not mean pollution/smoke affect propagation. (In short, correlation does not mean causation.)

 

[trentbob]

No. Pollution is often the effect of an atmospheric inversion and the inversion can effect VHF/UHF propagation. And weather conditions that effect fire condition can affect propagation. But this does not mean pollution/smoke affect propagation. (In short, correlation does not mean causation.)

So you are saying that the mass ongoing wildfires in Canada are not causing major cities in the United States to be full of air pollution right now, way worse than anything we had before President Nixon enacted the Clean Air Act in the early seventies. The wildfires have nothing to do with it.???, They are not interfering with atmospheric conditions affecting RF?

If you wouldn't mind, expand on that🤣🤣🤣

 

[tvengr]

So you are saying that the mass ongoing wildfires in Canada are not causing major cities in the United States to be full of air pollution right now,

Our local news just said tomorrow's air quality will be code red due to fires in Canada. Suggests wearing N95 masks if you need to be outside.

 

[dlwtrunked]

So you are saying that the mass ongoing wildfires in Canada are not causing major cities in the United States to be full of air pollution right now, way worse than anything we had before President Nixon enacted the Clean Air Act in the early seventies. The wildfires have nothing to do with it.???, They are not interfering with atmospheric conditions affecting RF?

If you wouldn't mind, expand on that🤣🤣🤣

What I implied is that extreme pollution problems are aggravated by atmospheric inversions and inversions can effect VHF/UHF propagation. And also weather conditions that effect fire condition can affect propagation. But this does not mean pollution/smoke affect propagation. (In short, correlation does not mean causation.)

 

[NowhereMan66]

I'm here in Eastern Ohio on the Ohio River, 50 miles WSW from Pittsburgh, where I'm from and it is huge mess here. Very smokey and my eyes are irritated when I went out to the supermarket. The smell reminds me a little bit of when a brake caliper sticks on a car. My right front sticks a little at times, thought it was me but it was everywhere. I took pictures and my friend joked that it is like a post apocalyptic world. It reminds me of the Fall of 1988 when fires in Kentucky raged on and the smoke came up into the Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh area.

 

[trentbob]

What I implied is that extreme pollution problems are aggravated by atmospheric inversions and inversions can effect VHF/UHF propagation. And also weather conditions that effect fire condition can affect propagation. But this does not mean pollution/smoke affect propagation. (In short, correlation does not mean causation.)

I guess that makes sense, our air quality is poor and at a yellow alert, the last time this happened we were at Red Alert and it was much more obvious, personally I have not noticed any changes in reception on any bands.

I guess this is going to be an ongoing thing and depending on where the fires are accelerating in Canada some areas will be hit more than others, the last episode where New York City was hit hard with the orange glow we were hit hard, visibility was very poor and I'm near Trenton, New Jersey south of New York City.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Hear south of DC, our air is not as bad as what happened several weeks ago but back in Ohio where I am from, they are telling people to stay indoors or wear N95 outside. Anyway, going back to radio conditions: I have noted two things that alert me to when there is an atmospheric inversion that can enhance VHF/UHF. The first is stagnant polluted air. The inversion that can enhance VHF/UHF also can trap the bad air in an area. The second thing is watching weather balloons (radiosondes) skew-T data can also show the inversion. See the link here for how to see that in a data plot:

Skew-T Plots

As radiosonde balloons ascend, they record the temperature and relative humidity at certain prescribed pressure levels (called the mandatory levels) and anytime a significant change occurs in the temperature, humidity, or wind. Typically, a radiosonde observation is complete when the balloon...

www.noaa.gov

 

[trentbob]

Today my County and all of the metropolitan Philadelphia area is in a red alert air quality condition. Pretty hazy out there. Not a lot of people out today and many masks.

 

[Boombox]

here i am in stl with a condition red for air conditions due to the smoke coming from canada, and i'm looking as pskreporter... and my 12m FT8 signal seems to be dead to the west and northwest... it's being heard in japan and brazil and florida and arizona and new jersey... but west/nw is empty.

obviously this could be anything from atmosphere to spots, but is it possible these fires are impacting radio signals?

73,

Richard
N0TZC

I don't think smoke, and other lower atmospheric conditions (like rainclouds, for example) affect 12 Meters, which is HF. VHF/UHF perhaps, as tropospheric ducting and other similar phenomena can affect VHF-UHF, but I haven't heard of tropospheric or stratospheric conditions affecting HF. Just the ionosphere seems to affect HF (and MF).