[Boatanchors] Forty Meter Loss of Signal

[Bill Stewart]

GA all, 
Did any one notice a Loss of Signals on 40 mtrs today around 15Z? I noticed the band 
go dead along about that time. I was CQing some at that time and noted on three RBN 
reports that my signal went from 4db up to 18db at the same skimmers and from 4 to 11db 
at another skimmer. The reports were during aprox. a ten minute period, after which the 
band came back to life and my RBN reports came back up to normal. As best as I could 
tell from a web site with space wx, there was forecast to be a solar flare today. Recon that 
was it, or just an oddity here or rcvr anomaly? 

Ah Ha ...just answered my own question...but will pass along anyway. 

SOLAR FLARE AND RADIO BLACKOUT: Today, Sept. 28th at 1458 UT, a strong M7-class solar flare erupted in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2422. Extreme UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere and caused a brief low-frequency radio blackout over South America and the Atlantic ocean: blackout map . AR2422 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that could erupt again at any moment. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of additional M-class solar flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours .