Solar noise detected on 28 MHz after X1 flare on the sun - 28th Oct 2021

Thursday 28th October 2021: I spent most of the day listening for WSPR signals on the 28 MHz but it was pretty poor mainly due to a lack of WSPR signals.

The big surprise during the day was the large burst of solar noise on the band in the afternoon. This sounded like a loud hissing sound and it was spread across the band. 

Solar noise has a softer kind of sound as compared to electrical interference and it rises and falls in amplitude whereas electrical noise tends to be on/off.

The solar noise got up as high as S8 at one stage which is way above my usual noise floor of S1-2. It was so pronounced that I wrote down the time... 15:28 UTC.

I checked the X-Ray flux later in the day and sure enough, a big X1 flare had gone off on the sun at the same time I heard the solar noise.

You will notice from the image at the top of the post that the flare is pointing right at Earth. It's likely that the material ejected from the sun will reach the Earth this weekend resulting in possible auroral conditions and making a mess of the HF bands in general.

Update: The material is likely to impact the Earth after 21:00 UTC on the Saturday the 30th of October which will be almost in the middle of the CQWW SSB contest. The overall impact will be dependent on the magnetic polarity of the incoming material.

Video: Space weather physicist Dr. Tamitha Skov has a lot more detail about the event below...