[HBQRP] FYI: APL Space weather radar..

[Arnie Grubbs]

FYI:Found an interesting posting on QRZ about the APL part of an international group of radar systems designed for observing ionosphere disturbances ... which cause such as aurora and radio black outs.  I think this might be interesting to some of the 6M addicts! :)
They have the raw data available from these radars to you via a JAVA app that processes the data on your own PC.  The radar sites are located both in the northern and southern hemispheres, and more are going to be brought on line before 2012 when the system is to be completed.
Here is a link to the web page...
http://superdarn.jhuapl.edu/rt/java/index.html 
Check out the instruction page and tutorials for info on how to use the data...
There is also a 45 second movie available that shows the  convection data gathered from all the radars in the past 24 hours.  Its updated every 5 minuits..

Also check out the 16 LPDA antennas used as part of the system at one of the radar sites..  This would be an AWESOME array for ham radio experiments on 6M and 10M
http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2009/images/Kapuskasing04.jpg

73 - Arnie KA0NCR