Tag Archives: Troy Riedel

A swimming pool, RFI and a lightning strike: My SWLing Story

by Troy Riedel

New readers will not recognize my name.

Longtime readers may not recognize my name, but chances are you may remember my story.

I once contributed posts to this Blog … until … ‘the swimming pool’. During COVID, my wife decided she wanted an in-ground swimming pool. The construction started in May 2020 and was completed in May 2022 (note: my pool contractor is now out of business; he ruined another company’s business as a ‘partner’, has many lawsuits filed against him, and I know he’s served time in jail under work release – all subsequent to our project).

No exaggeration.

If you’re interested in reading the entire story of my problem, I’ll refer you to my last two posts here:

For those who don’t have time to catch up, here’s an overview:

Late in the pool construction after the bonding was installed and the concrete deck was poured, I turned on my collection of portable shortwave radios, and I experienced the worst, most horrendous EMI/RFI imaginable. Nothing – and I mean nothing – on the shortwaves was intelligible. 100% uninterrupted static.

The SWLing Post Nation was great. I must have had three dozen? … four dozen? … people comment and offer advice (both on and off the Blog). And I received very detailed opinions, suggestions, and analyses via my personal email. Unfortunately, nothing mitigated my problem. My actions:

I hired an independent electrician at an hourly rate to check the pool & the entire house – he could not find the problem.

I called the power company (Dominion). To Dominion’s credit, they dispatched an expert and a ladder truck, but they confirmed the source was not from the main power line nor from their transformers.

So approximately 5-years ago, I was forced to abandon the SWLing hobby. Early on, I’d turn on my radios every two months to see if my issue abated. After a while, I checked quarterly. Then semi-annually. In the last year or two, I’ve turned on my radios every winter to check and every time, I still had the horrendous and almost incomprehensible EMI/RFI issue rendering my SW radios as paperweights.

Fast forward to recent history.

In late June 2026, my house suffered a direct lightning strike. The bolt struck the metal chimney cap. My wife & I were sitting in the room with the fireplace and the entire room glowed! There was no fire, but I had a hole in the siding. One of my six security cameras was blown off the side of the house. Flames literally shot out of one electrical outlet on the opposite side of my house. In total, I suffered over $13,900 in damage (thank you, Allstate Insurance).

The pool suffered two damaged items: an outdoor ground fault outlet and the pool light were both fried (the light and the connected transformer for the light both connect to the ground fault circuit outlet).

One of the SWLing Nation friends that I made five years ago is Ken English. Every so often he’ll send me a text message, and we’ll have a friendly chat. Last Saturday Night, he reached out and we text chatted. During the chat I mentioned the lightning strike. He replied, ‘Did it [the lightning strike] change your interference problem?’

Hmm, great question. Did it? How could it? But wait, maybe somehow it did!

I turned on my radios and guess what? The interference is gone! And I now know the source of this five-year problem that knocked me off the shortwaves. The pool light!

The pool light is underwater. The power cord to the light runs underground for 80-feet where it connects to the transformer, which is on the ‘outdoor power panel’ that runs the pool electronics and equipment. I had a professional replace the light and transformer which required snaking 80’ of power cord out and replacing it with a new 80’ power line.

I’m not an electrician. I can’t explain the dynamics behind it. But a direct lightning strike that caused over $13,900 of damage has me back on the shortwaves!

Thank you, lightning. And thank you, Ken, because without your Saturday Night text, I would not have discovered that my 5-year problem was mitigated until – probably – some cold, cloudy December night.

The Sun is Flaring (X and M Class )

1 Reply

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Troy Riedel, who shares the following news courtesy of the excellent SpaceWeather.com site:

THE SUN IS FLARING AGAIN: Sunspot AR3947 is sizzling with activity. Since yesterday it has produced three X-class solar flares and multiple strong M-flares. NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite recorded the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray flashes:

Each flare has produced a shortwave radio blackout on Earth. Almost all longitudes of our planet have experienced intermittent loss of signal below 20 MHz during local daylight hours. Long-distance propagation has been very unreliable.

Remarkably, no significant CMEs have emerged. For some reason, these explosions have not lifted much material out of the sun’s atmosphere. Future blasts may behave differently, however, and the activity shows no sign of abating as the sunspot turns toward Earth.

Spaceweather.com: Sunspot “visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com:

Above: Carrington’s sunspot (to scale) compared to today’s giant sunspot AR3664.

HUGE SUNSPOT HURLS CME TOWARD EARTH: A sunspot so large it visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot of 1859 hurled a CME toward Earth today. Don’t worry! A new Carrington Event is not in the offing. The incoming CME isn’t potent enough. However, this huge sunspot merits watching while Earth is in its strike zone. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

CME impact alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive an instant text message when the CME arrives.

A large CME could bring G3-class geomagnetic storms

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com:

A BIG CME IS COMING: This morning’s X1-class solar flare hurled a bright CME toward Earth. NASA and NOAA models agree that the storm cloud should reach our planet by the early hours of March 25th. A direct hit could spark strong G3-class geomagnetic storms with mid-latitude auroras in the USA and Europe.

NOAA Geomagnetic Activity Probabilities 24 Mar-26 Mar
Active                10/01/30
Minor storm           25/20/30
Moderate storm        25/30/20
Strong-Extreme storm  35/50/05

NOAA Kp index forecast 24 Mar - 26 Mar
             Mar 24    Mar 25    Mar 26
00-03UT        3.67      5.00      5.00      
03-06UT        4.67      6.67      4.00      
06-09UT        2.00      5.67      4.00      
09-12UT        1.00      5.00      3.67      
12-15UT        1.00      4.00      3.00      
15-18UT        2.67      3.00      2.33      
18-21UT        5.00      3.00      2.33      
21-00UT        5.67      4.00      3.33

Thanks for the tip, Troy!

Solar Radiation Storms and Cannibal CMEs

Spaceweather.com

SOLAR RADIATION STORM–NOW: For the second time in less than a week, energetic solar protons are raining down on Earth’s upper atmosphere. Forecasters call this a “solar radiation storm.” Today’s storm (near category S2) is rich in “hard protons” wiith energies greater than 50 MeV. It is causing a shortwave radio blackout inside the Arctic Circle and speckling the cameras of some Earth-orbiting satellites.

The plot above shows storm data recorded by NOAA’s GOES-18 satellite in Earth orbit. Sensors on the satellite are counting energetic protons as they pass by en route to Earth. Triggered by an explosion near the sun’s southwestern limb (inset), this storm could last for another 24 hours.

IS A ‘CANNIBAL CME’ COMING? Since Feb. 7th, the sun has hurled multiple CMEs into space. A handful of them might hit Earth this week. A new NOAA forecast model shows at least three solar storm clouds approaching for strikes on Feb. 13th:

Click to play the animated forecast model

The closely-spaced arrival of these three CMEs could spark G1 (Minor) to G2-class (Moderate) geomagnetic storms with high-latitude auroras in northern Europe, Canada, and northern-tier US states from Maine to Washington.

There’s a chance the CMEs will pile up to form a Cannibal CME. This happens when one fast-moving CME sweeps up slower-moving CMEs in front of it. Cannibal CMEs typically contain strong shocks and enhanced magnetic fields that do a good job sparking geomagnetic storms. If such a pile-up occurs, the combined strike could cause a G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm with auroras at mid-latitudes.

X5-Class Solar Flare is the strongest of Solar Cycle 25

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com:

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G2): A CME launched into space by yesterday’s X5-class solar flare (see below) *does* have an Earth-directed component. According to a NASA model, it should strike our planet on Jan. 2nd. G2-class geomagnetic storms are possible when the CME arrives. CME impact alerts: SMS Text

MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Mere hours after emerging over the sun’s eastern limb on Dec. 31st, big sunspot AR3536 erupted, producing a major X5-class solar flare. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the most powerful eruption the sun has produced since the great storms of Sept. 2017.

Radiation from the flare has caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean: blackout map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 60 minutes after the flare’s peak (2155 UT).

Click here for more updates on Spaceweather.com.

X2.8-Class Solar Flare: Strongest of this solar cycle

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Many thanks to SWLing Post Contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com:

(UPDATED) STRONGEST FLARE OF THE CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE:

Sunspot 3514 erupted on Dec. 14th (1702 UT), producing a strong X2.8-class solar flare. This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the most powerful eruption the sun has produced since the great storms of Sept. 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

Radiation from the flare has caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Americas: blackout map. Ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 30 minutes after the flare.

This explosion probably launched a fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) Soon after the blast, the US Air Force is reported a Type II solar radio burst, which typically comes from the leading edge of a CME. Based on the drift rate of the radio burst, the CME’s velocity could exceed 2100 km/s (4.7 million mph).

Confirmation: Newly-arriving images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show a lopsided halo CME:

Although this CME is not squarely aimed at Earth, it does appear to have an Earth-directed component. A glancing blow is likely on Dec. 17th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

Click here to stay up to date with all space weather events at Spaceweather.com.