Fluttering signals tonight

[k8jd]

Had some fluttering signals on the Ham bands, followed down to AM BC band, found signals locally were fine, stations on the upper AM band more than 300 miles away were fluttering pretty badly, on freqs below 1000 kHz were fine.
WWV on 2.5 and 5 were fluttering and CHU on 3.33 MHz all were fluttering terribly.
Must be due to solar conditions?
Any one else listening to AMBC DX hear this>??

[Turkeytop]

I checked just now here in south west Ontario. 2.5 MHZ, no signal at all. 3 MH CHU seems OK. WWV on 5 MHZ is fluttery. WWV on 10 MHZ no signal at all.

KYW 1060 KHZ is a little fluttery. All of my MW band is really noisy.

[Marcus]

We have those kinds of conditions again tonight. A strong solar storm is affecting the ionosphere. The Chicago and New York Clear Channels that usually come in are not there. Stuff from down south is. That means I can easily listen to 1110 WBT from Charlotte, yet 880 from NYC is missing. This makes it easier to listen to WWJ at night. I can hear Radio Reloj from Cuba in the background on 950, but it is not that strong. Whoever takes out WWJ during normal nighttime conditions must be to the East or the West (or both).

[ZenithCKLW]

So can someone explain this? I’ve been an AM DXer for years and I don’t remember anything about fluttering signals. I was in the middle of nowhere along Lake Huron last night and I had a hard time DXing, and that location is usually excellent for me. It sounded like my radio’s batteries were going dead, or like my radio’s IF was out of tune. I also can’t get CKLW now that I’m back home in Livonia, but I can faintly get CKWW. Which is odd in itself because lately anything below about 850 or 900 is really noisy.

What is this?

[Ben Zonia]

It has to do with Auroral Conditions.

I remember WWV fluttering on 10 MHz, and WCFL 1000 kHz fluttering with a very weak signal, from way back in the 1960s. Seems like the WWV propagation prediction was W4 or U5 in Morse Code. Good conditions were N7. Never heard it below 4 or above 7. You have to realize that WWJ 950 has the largest major lobe of any station in the US, around 5000 mV/m inverse field at one mile. That's why you might hear it better than the New York City or Chicago Clear Channels. The nondirectional 50000 watt Clear Channel stations are usually around 1700 mV/m inverse field at one mile, at least for now. The new proposed Des Plaines tower site for WSCR 670 and WBBM 780 may be stronger at short skywave distances, weaker further away, due to power going into high angle radiation rather than concentrating it into horizontal plane ground wave.

Up around Harrisville, you get a lot of stations on ground wave Daytime from SE Michigan whose signal paths cross parts of Lake Huron, which has a higher conductivity than the M-3 prediction. Even WLQV 1500 comes in well in the Daytime.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

Side note, but 2 meters has been doing this a ton for me. That's 144-148 MHZ for newbies. Tons of birdies. I have the same Icom all band scanner, the IC-R2. None of the groundings have been changed in the house-no renovations. The antenna is a little threaded at the end(it is 20 years old after all), but it has been for the last 8 years. I had no problems a few years ago.

[SolarMax]

Side note, but 2 meters has been doing this a ton for me. That's 144-148 MHZ for newbies. Tons of birdies. I have the same Icom all band scanner, the IC-R2. None of the groundings have been changed in the house-no renovations. The antenna is a little threaded at the end(it is 20 years old after all), but it has been for the last 8 years. I had no problems a few years ago.

Lots of "birdies" on 2M can often be the result of RF "leakage" from one or more cable TV lines nearby.
It doesn't take much. Loosened connector, moisture in the cable, a flaky line amp, a cable-nibbling squirrel etc.
Also, those few years ago there were far fewer devices emitting lots of low-level signals. No one is immune.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

Side note, but 2 meters has been doing this a ton for me. That's 144-148 MHZ for newbies. Tons of birdies. I have the same Icom all band scanner, the IC-R2. None of the groundings have been changed in the house-no renovations. The antenna is a little threaded at the end(it is 20 years old after all), but it has been for the last 8 years. I had no problems a few years ago.

Lots of "birdies" on 2M can often be the result of RF "leakage" from one or more cable TV lines nearby.
It doesn't take much. Loosened connector, moisture in the cable, a flaky line amp, a cable-nibbling squirrel etc.
Also, those few years ago there were far fewer devices emitting lots of low-level signals. No one is immune.

This is true. I need to test it outside the house.