Eclipse experiments, Wednesday August 12th 2026

53 views
Skip to first unread message

infotechcomms

unread,
Aug 5, 2026, 12:56:16 PMAug 5
to HamSCI

There is a partial solar eclipse over the UK on August 12th 2026 and the RSGB’s Propagation Studies Committee in the UK would like your help with some radio experiments.

The Sun’s obscuration will exceed 90% over most of the UK, but it will be a total eclipse over Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean and eventually parts of northern Portugal and Spain.

The total eclipse continues down into northern Portugal and Spain where it passes over Valencia, and totality ends at 19:32hrs UTC. It will remain a partial eclipse over Spain until after sunset.

As the eclipse progresses it will mean that F2/E-layer illumination of the ionosphere is diminished. At the same time it will also mean that D-region absorption may be reduced. This may affect propagation on the lower bands, including medium wave (AM), 80 metres and perhaps even 40 metres.

RSGB would like you to run WSPR on 80m or 40m if possible during the eclipse, from 17:00hrs UTC to 20:00hrs UTC. And repeat the exercise either the day before or the day after so comparisons can be drawn.

RSGB has also organised two contests on 80m CW and 40m FT8, both to run from 16:30hrs UTC to 19:30hrs UTC on August 12th. These are open to non-RSGB members as well. For the FT8 contest, amateurs are asked to send their locator rather than skip directly to a signal report.

We’re not sure whether low-band signals will cross the Atlantic during the eclipse, but it is worth a try!

For more details see: https://tinyurl.com/RSGBeclipse


ENDS


Steve Nichols G0KYA
Chairman, RSGB Propagation Studies Committee
Tel +44 7899 992389

Francis Rowsell

unread,
Aug 5, 2026, 4:59:41 PMAug 5
to ham...@googlegroups.com
A good initiative from RSGB.

I was thinking about the note published in the group about H-Mode  maybe someone should experiment with that if its ready to try?

Frank  G8PQH

--
Please follow the HamSCI Community Participation Guidelines at http://hamsci.org/hamsci-community-participation-guidelines.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HamSCI" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hamsci+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci/0b975574-4bde-431e-aecb-8d17c65db48bn%40googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages