TWICE this week during pre-dawn hours Worldround Radio in the Center of North America detached from the grid for security during lightning storms.
Tuesday October 7 OFF at 4:30 AM CDT.
Thursday October 9 OFF at 4:50 AM CDT.
This morning's storm remained in the area for hours, but we returned to air at 8:57 AM CDT to dark overcast skies with more storms expected, flowing from a tropical storm down in equatorial Pacific Ocean at Mexico and Southern California.
Forced to listen to licensed stations during the outage, I learned that the morning host at 550 kHz was oversleeping and the all night staff was covering until he showed up. I identified with that and recall oversleeping on many morning shifts.
My contract with KDX allows me to oversleep.
Bruce
This morning is misty, foggy, drippy, drizzly.
So I got to wondering... what happens to radio waves as they radiate outward into the rain?
Does the rain break the waves into shreds? Do the waves pass through the water transparently?
Does the rain attenuate the radio signal?
Does the station sound wet?
THE TIME NOW IS 10:08 PM CST IN THE CENTER OF NORTH AMERICA.
ABOUT 15-MINUTES AGO AT 9:50 PM THE LIGHTS DIMMED SLIGHTLY, SEVERAL TIMES, AT 5-SECOND INTERVALS, FOR ABOUT 40- SECONDS. (all times are estimated).
I grabbed the battery lantern so I'd have it if needed and went to the window to see if other homes or street lights were also experiencing the dimming, but it stopped by then and the lights were still on.
It could have been a local event, regional, or national!
Did anyone else experince power anomalies around the same time?
Weather conditions are calm, but a solar storm would be considered a meteorological (weather type) event... although I don't know if solar pulses happen at night.
Perhaps HAARP was sending beams?
It's only been three days since the anniversary of War of the Worlds!
As I was reading a magazine, the light kept flickering in and out, but eventually I realized it was just the leg of the rocking chair tugging at the the power cord of the lamp..
To imagine...
A rocking chair at End 80 Radio could cause a power fluctuation hundreds of miles away up here in the midwaste!
Power grid disruption caused by a rocking chair!
This goes beyond the rule "You may not cause interference."
There should be a rule "You may not cause a total power failure of the entire grid."
Raining cats and dogs here in Farmington Missouri. You cant hear my signal very well today for all the barking and meowing. Switched over to 1650 am today from the FM transmitter thinking I would test the signal with my talking house, bad day to do so apparantly.
You could start one heck of a pet shop with all those dogs and cats, Moore586_1.
Every day is good to test a station's signal...
Up here not far from St. Louis my 1550 signal is going farther than usual in a continual rain.
I'm not going very far but the signal is. It must be very wet by now.
Rain and Nasty weather in general seems to have the opposite effect on my signal down here. Seems odd, the band is very noisy today here, hard getting above the noise.
65 F today in CT.
But a few days ago I was over in a place called
Cape Cod, which hangs off of the right side of
Massachusetts into the Atlantic Ocean.
A big weather system they refer to as a
"Nor'Easter" blew in and we got hit with
40 to 50 MPH winds. There was rain going
sideways for a little while, and the temp was
in the 40s F, but it felt a lot colder.
Bleh! I'm back in Hartford, CT now, and some
of the days are up to about 60 F, but some of
the nights are in the 30s.
The only Part 15 transmitter running right now
is a relay in my house. It is a bunch of stuff
wired together and is known here as SLUG 107.5.
All other transmitters, Part 15, ham radio, CB
(well, I'm not a CBer, but I have some beautiful old
CBs that are only interesting to me) are off and dark.
Next to me is a one tube 6AQ5 80 meter cw 3 watt
transmitter. It's off too. I should put it in standby mode
so I can watch the glowing tube. Hey, maybe that will
warm up the room a little.(?) I haven't turned the furnace
on yet and it's chilly in here.
Bruce
Your weather in CT is just like what we have in MO.
60s by day.
The other night down to 29.
I dusted off the two DeLonghi heaters and put them on Min. (Minimum) which warms the room a little.
The furnace only goes on when we hit low 20s.
Low power heat for low power radio.
Northeast Ohio weather has been reasonable. We had a slight bit of rain the other night. A few days ago the temperatures dipped into the 30's. But the last couple have been fairly nice for November.
Of course that all changes by Friday when it is supposed to turn colder, wetter and possibly some accumulation of snow over the weekend.
Details to follow...
On Tuesday Veterans Day the temperature in much of the northern half of The Homeland will plunge as an early polar vortex returns.
For KDX Worldround Radio here in the Center of North America it means mid-30s daytime low 20s nighttime.
We've got to keep these communications systems open as long as possible.
If we lose the battle and find outselves going down, try to post a final farewell message for those who survive.
Above all, keep your part 15 signal on the air until the very end.
The expected Typhoon coming in from Alaska has apparently been pushed back a few days. We were told to expect torrents of rain and plunging temperatures mixed with sleet and snow.
However, today was reasonably fair for this time of year. Temperatures started out in the mid 40's and by afternoon 60's were in order with no precipitation. Tomorrow will be similar with temperatures starting to fall and slight chance of rain. By Wednesday we should see a high of 41 falling below freezing later in the day.
I will keep the station on the air as long as I can. I will prepare the portable transmitter and emergency power for deployment should that become necessary.
Well, the bottom dropped out yesterday. Temperatures have fallen with lows in the upper 20's. The current temperature is 30. There was plenty of sun despite the cold temps.
Here on the Ohio north coast of the Homeland, just a few miles away, the lake effect snow has been falling with accumulations of up to 10 inches in some places. Here, only a few flurries as lake effect snow normally doesn't come this far south.
Expecting temperatures to remain in the 30's for the next few days with some snow. The generator is set to go and I just ordered a 20 watt solar panel for my first off-grid experiments.
Holding the line in Northeast Ohio...