Another angle - the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) (Score 1)

The RBN has been around since 2009. Software defined radios (SDRs) operated by hams and SWLs in over 100 locations worldwide listen to the HF and low VHF ham bands, decode the CW, radio teletype and other digital transmissions they hear and report information (callsign, frequency, how strong, etc.) to a server via the Internet. The server archives these "spots" and relays them via Telnet to a worldwide public network of "DX cluster" servers which anyone can connect to. During one radio contest weekend last fall, the RBN relayed over 7 million spots, or over 40 per second. In addition to their support of amateur radio operating, the RBN archives are also being used for serious studies of the ionosphere. Early last year, an article in Space Weather Quarterly used RBN observations to shed new light on what happens during a solar flare. For more information, see http://www.reversebeacon.net/m... and http://reversebeacon.blogspot.... 73, Pete N4ZR