blacklogo_orangetext.gif (13932 bytes)The day before the eclipse, Tuesday 10th August

WB01547_.gif (1452 bytes)

Why the day before?


It is essential to have at least one non-eclipse day reference in order to see what difference the eclipse made. It is also helpful to have a dry run the day before.
This must be for the same time of day, the same broadcast over the same frequencies and the same link  as you intend to do on eclipse day.

Having made prior arrangements with your contact about broadcasting times, you'll want to be ready to start by 8:30 or 9:00 am (British Summer Time, BST).
Remember Continential Countries local time will  be 1 hour ahead.
 

8:30 am to 13:00

Record the time of each measurement (they don't have to be evenly spaced). Once every 20 minutes is fine.

On the eclipse day, about 40-30 minutes before of the moment of totality  for the radio signal, things will hopefully change much more rapidly. At this time you may want to make observations more often.

Each time you make an observation:

If you are transmitting, If you are receiving, Continue after the time eclipse will have past for  about 2 hours (so to about 13:00 BST).

If at anytime your reception was affected by interference from another station, please note it down when it occurred.
If you cannot give your signal strength readings in dB (dB above noise) then use whatever units are on your S-meter is fine.

This experiment is ideal for those with computer control of their rigs. But can equally well be done by hand.

If things go wrong  you can always do this reference day again , but the day after the eclipse.

What not to do

Once you have set your equipment up for the start of the experiment you must resist the temptation to change it, particularly the transmit power or the automatic gain or bandwidth on the receive station


 | How to do some radio experimentsBack to Radio Experiments |

11/02/1999 Ruth Bamford