NASA recently recruited citizen scientists, and their latest call is looking for help from ham radio operators. They want you Make and report radio communications During 2023 and 2024 in North America. From their website:
The connection is possible due to interactions between our sun and the ionosphere, the ionized region of Earth’s atmosphere that lies approximately 80 to 1,000 km away. The upcoming eclipses (October 14, 2023 and April 8, 2024) provide unique opportunities to study these interactions. As you and other members of HamSCI transmit, receive and record signals across the radio spectrum during the eclipse, you will generate valuable data for testing computer models of the ionosphere.
The next eclipse will be in October of this year and in April of 2024, so you have some time to arrange your stop. According to NASA, “It will be a fun and friendly event with a competitive element.” So if you like science, space, or competitiveness, it sounds like you’ll be interested. Now, the big event is the Eclipse QSO Party. There will also be a signal detection challenge, some measurements for WWV, CHU and AM broadcast stations, and ionospheric height measurements. There will also be some kind of very low frequency event. Details about many of these events are still pending.
Hams, of course, has a long history of experimenting with space. Signals routinely bounce off the moon. They also allow radio signals to bounce off the paths of ionized gas behind the meteors using special computer software.
