6m SSB and CW Aurora Backscatter Propagation - what it sounds like

As pretty much everyone on Earth knows, we just experienced a level G5 (the highest level) "solar storm" that caused aurora to be visible over much of the northern tier of the United States, and even as far south as Alabama and North Texas.
Ham radio operators have long known that during an aurora, that propagation conditions can change dramatically - wiping out HF but possibly enhanced in VHF.
In this short video, you will hear the ethereal and very strange sounds of both SSB (voice) and CW (Morse code) as heard on the night of May 10th, 2024 in the radio room of W7UUU, via Auroral Backscatter propagation.

[@ajfogertyfan8245]

AJ1G here , Chris from Stonington in SE CT. The auroral scatter propagation was wild here between about 4 PM and 8 PM EDT on Friday May 10 . Worked about 40 stations as far west as Minnesota, down to Virginia, out to southern Ontario a d up to PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and all over the Northeast with just 100 watts on CW to a little 2 element 6 meter beam pointed north the whole time. What little SSB I heard on 6 meters was so smeared by the Doppler shift caused by the unstable reflection/refraction off the auroral 3:40 curtains that is was impossible to understand. Only have worked auroral scatter here a couple of times over more than 40 years from here. The stuff last week was definitely to wildest!

[@KI5IJB]

Thanks for recording this, very cool to hear!

[@davesradioshack]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ThatOpalGuy]

My father was a ham radio operator. I believe he was able to talk to someone on shuttle once.

[@scott-in-dfw3005]

You can chat with the ISS as it goes over. They have radios and most astronauts are Hams too. Just need to know when it's going to go over, point your Yagi antenna at it, follow it, and start calling. They just might answer! Happens a lot....

[@davidsradioroom9678]

Cool!

[@skyeugene9227]

Dave, a Nice overview
K0UO

[@davesradioshack]

Thanks Steve!

[@Partimepeasant]

Strange resonation.

[@davesradioshack]

Yes - VERY strange sound. It's because of the phase changes caused by the aurora. The stronger the aurora, the clearer the audio. Weaker aurora, and the signals are very wispy and thin.