In the past weeks we had some fine radio aurora in the morning and evening hours.

Sometimes the "WCY de dk0wcy"  or the command show/wcy at clx- 
and dxspider-type cluster nodes brought the info au = no,
although a lot of 2 m qsos were spotted.

Why did it say "aurora = no"?

To understand how this statement by DK0WCY is derived, I want to explain 
the automatic system which is in use for tests:
Only once per hour (around 15 minutes past a full hour) the info telegram 
for "show/wcy" is sent to db0sue-7 (clx-cluster node).

A receiver, permanently tuned to sk4mpi beacon frequency, feeds the audio 
signal to a soundblaster card of a linux PC. A special software can 
distinguish between no signal at all, steady carrier (tropo signal) 
or aurora type signal.

If just in the moment of transfer to the dx-cluster "no aurora" is detected,
then this statement is send and may be changed only by the next regulary
info transfer one hour later.
The cw beacon signal on 10144 kHz resp. 3579 kHz follows the aurora detection 
at once. 

Online view of our magnetometer via the web page 
        http://www.dk0wcy.de
      click to Magnetometer online, 
there could be a delay up to 6 minutes (update every 6 minutes only).

ATTENTION: No access to box DK0WCY-5 in the moment, as described below.

You can follow the situation by connecting to the beacon itself via 
packet radio:   connect to  dk0wcy-5,  send the command  ausgabe , 
which brings the complete actual info telegram. 
With the command   mag
you can get both traces of the magnetometer (rough, since only 80 digits
per line possible). Read the "help" there - you may download a viewer.zip 
which together with a zipped data-file shows you the two traces of the 
magnetometer for a certain day.


During very strong aurora events it may happen, that SK4MPI is not received 
anymore, because the reflecetion center ist south of SK4MPI, then also
DK0WCY will say "no aurora". 
(Unfortunately we had to realize that the manuell option for aurora alert 
has a bug - the software has to be corrected (but our software expert is 
moving in the moment....)
To cope with this problem we want to use different beacons for the automatic 
aurora detection, which have to be situated more south to SK4MPI.

We want to introduce this feature later. There is also a plan to adjust the antenna azimuth for 
best reception. Now it can happen that the reflection center is many  
degrees west or east from the fixed position to north, then the  
signal strength of SK4MPI may be too low for automatic detection.

The info  "next expected k 5 (or higher)"    should only trigger you to 
have an own look into the bands, but it is also no guarantee, that 
radio aurora qsos are possible - it might have happened that "man made noise" 
- e.g close passing by of a tractor next to the farm building in which the 
magnetometer is located - brings false high k-figures. 
Commercial magnetometers are situated in an area free of such disturbances.

Keep in mind, that it is not the purpose of DK0WCY beacon to "guarantee"
aurora - it is up to you to interpret infos, which are available now from
different sources. And by the way: It is an amateur low cost project, not a
commercial one.

73
DK8LV, DK4VW