{"id":27633,"date":"2017-08-20T09:18:33","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T13:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=27633"},"modified":"2017-08-22T06:57:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T10:57:18","slug":"solar-eclipse-2017-in-the-path-of-totality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/solar-eclipse-2017-in-the-path-of-totality\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Eclipse 2017: In the path of totality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A portion of the PARI campus<\/p><\/div>\n

Tomorrow, we will be experiencing a total solar eclipse here in the mountains of western North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Instead of enjoying the eclipse at home, I will be volunteering as a docent at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute<\/a> in Rosman, North Carolina. Post readers might recall PARI as it was the location of our 2015 PARI DXpedition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

One of PARI’s 26 meter radio telescopes.<\/p><\/div>\n

PARI is expecting at least 1,000 visitors tomorrow, from a number of countries. Many are scientists, astronomers, and guests who want to be in the path of totality.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the PARI campus, we will be in totality for about 1 minutes, 47 seconds.<\/p>\n

What makes the event truly special for PARI is that this is the first time in history a world-class radio astronomy observatory has been in the path of totality. To say the PARI astronomers are excited is simply an understatement. All four of PARI’s telescopes will be trained on our local star and gathering copious amounts of data.<\/p>\n

If you don’t live in the path of the Eclipse, I invite you to check out PARI’s YouTube channel<\/a> where they will host a live stream:<\/p>\n

Click here to watch on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gathering spectrum<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I will also be gathering data of my own during the event.<\/p>\n

I will remotely record the entire mediumwave (AM broadcast) band several hours before, during and after the eclipse. I will also set up a separate SDR to record either the 31\/30 meter bands and my buddy, Vlado (N3CZ) is kindly using his SDRplay RSP1 to record from 6 MHz – 8 MHz.<\/p>\n

What do I expect to see\/hear in the spectrum recordings? Certainly a drop in noise. If I’m lucky, I also hope to hear some DX anomalies–hopefully a signal or two that I wouldn’t normally here in the middle of a summer day.<\/p>\n

I don’t expect any dramatic results (though I would love to be proven otherwise!) since the ionosphere takes time to change states. My buddy Mike (K8RAT) likens it to an oven: it takes time for it to heat up to the desired temperature, and it takes time for it to cool down as well. I’m not so sure the shadow of the moon, which moves at a good clip, will be persistent enough to change the state of the ionosphere in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n

If it does, I’ll be there to record it!<\/p>\n

There are many other radio related experiments happening during the solar eclipse. A notable one that you can even help with is the\u00a02017 Ham Radio Eclipse Experiment.<\/a><\/p>\n

SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Dan Srebnick also suggests a few stations you might try catching on the AM broadcast band. Dan notes:<\/p>\n

Something to do during the solar eclipse on Monday. There are 13 clear channel AM stations along the path of totality. Give a listen for them:
\n[LIST OF AM CLEAR CHANNEL STATIONS]
\nkHz CALL Location Eclipse UTC
\n—— ——- —————- ————–
\n650 WSM Nashville, TN 18:28
\n670 KBOI Boise, ID 17:27
\n750 WSB Atlanta, GA 18:36
\n840 WHAS Louisville, KY 18:27
\n880 KRVN Lexington, NE 17:57
\n1030 KTWO Casper, WY 17:43
\n1040 WHO DesMoines, IA 18:08
\n1110 KFAB Omaha, NE 18:04
\n1110 WBT Charlotte, NC 18:41
\n1120 KPNW Eugene, OR 17:17
\n1120 KMOX St. Louis, MO 18:18
\n1190 KEX Portland, OR 17:19
\n1510 WLAC Nashville, TN 18:28<\/p>\n

Kudos to Bob WB4APR (of APRS fame) for producing this list.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Post<\/em> readers:<\/strong> Will you be in the path of totality or do you plan to enjoy a partial eclipse? Have you ever experienced a total solar eclipse? \u00a0What are your plans if any? Please comment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow, we will be experiencing a total solar eclipse here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Instead of enjoying the eclipse at home, I will be volunteering as a docent at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Rosman, North Carolina. Post readers might recall PARI as it was the location of our 2015 PARI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[81,545,433,3,43],"tags":[6343,4579,4715,6282,2280,2281,581,157,5713],"class_list":["post-27633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-ham-radio","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-2017-solar-eclipse","tag-astronomy","tag-dan-srebnick","tag-eclipse","tag-pari","tag-pisgah-astronomical-research-institute","tag-radio-astronomy","tag-sdr","tag-spectrum-recording"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-7bH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26802,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/sky-and-telescope-observe-augusts-eclipse-with-your-am-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":27633,"position":0},"title":"Sky and Telescope: \u201cObserve\u201d August\u2019s Eclipse with Your AM Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"June 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Sky and Telescope via Sheldon Harvey) When the Moon's shadow glides across the U.S. on August 21st, you'll have have a chance to hear the eclipse as it happens. Solar eclipses are more than remarkable visual astronomical phenomena; they\u2019re pretty interesting from a radio viewpoint too. Should overcast skies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AM-Dial-Digital-Grundig-Mediumwave-MW-lg-1024x623.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AM-Dial-Digital-Grundig-Mediumwave-MW-lg-1024x623.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AM-Dial-Digital-Grundig-Mediumwave-MW-lg-1024x623.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11005,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/dxpedition-at-a-radio-astronomy-observatory-want-to-join-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":27633,"position":1},"title":"DXpedition at a radio astronomy observatory: Want to join me?","author":"Thomas","date":"October 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday evening, prior to my presentation at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), I took the opportunity to do a little portable shortwave listening on the PARI campus. One of the great things about listening to shortwave, mediumwave or longwave at a radio astronomy site is the blissful absence of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PARI-West","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PARI-West-1024x682.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PARI-West-1024x682.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PARI-West-1024x682.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10925,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/october-10-lets-talk-shortwave-and-astronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":27633,"position":2},"title":"October 10: Let’s talk shortwave…and astronomy","author":"Thomas","date":"September 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been invited to speak at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI),\u00a0a non-profit educational radio astronomy observatory (and former NASA tracking station as well as one-time\u00a0NSA installation), in the mountains of western North Carolina. I'll be speaking about shortwave radio, of course\u2013both its technical and cultural aspects\u2013on October 10, 2014,\u00a0at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PARIdish","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/PARIdish-1024x638.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30125,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/thomas-explores-the-depths-of-radio-astronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":27633,"position":3},"title":"Tom explores the depths of radio astronomy","author":"Thomas","date":"January 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom L, who writes: I have been curiously surveying uses of radio in different areas of industry and Astronomy came up as a hot topic the last couple of years according to recent Google searches. Radio was a giant popular commercial success in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PARI-East-26M-Antenna-4-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PARI-East-26M-Antenna-4-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/PARI-East-26M-Antenna-4-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15717,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/video-shortwave-listening-and-radio-astronomy\/","url_meta":{"origin":27633,"position":4},"title":"Video: Shortwave listening and radio astronomy","author":"Thomas","date":"November 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On Thursday I attended an event at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI)--location of the 2015 SWLing Post DXPedition. During a break, I had a couple of free hours, so I reached in my messenger bag and pulled out the Sony ICF-SW100: a radio that has quickly surpassed all others\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EDC"","block_context":{"text":"EDC","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/edc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sony-ICF-SW100","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sony-ICF-SW100-576x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sony-ICF-SW100-576x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Sony-ICF-SW100-576x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31361,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/interval-signals-radio-astronomy-bliss\/","url_meta":{"origin":27633,"position":5},"title":"Interval Signals + Radio Astronomy = Bliss","author":"Thomas","date":"March 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I spent part of the better part of the day at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI): a place that has begun to feel like a home away from home. As you might imagine, radio astronomy observatories are places with very low levels of radio frequency interference. Since I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediumwave"","block_context":{"text":"Mediumwave","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/mediumwave\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/PARI-Radio-Telescope-Dish-Astronomy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}