Parkersburg South campus draws students, ham radio operators into orbit for solar phenomena (West Virginia)

Amateur radio operators from the Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub set up stations at Parkersburg South High School Monday to monitor how the solar eclipse may impact radio signals.

“We are contacting stations all across North America and Canada, anywhere they can hear us, and we exchange what is known as signal strength reports,” said club President Larry Dale.

Dale said operators were using multiple ham radio bands like 40 meters, 20 meters, and 10 meters. He said different digital and voice modes like FT8, Morse code, and single sideband were being utilized to contact other amateur radio stations and collect signal reports on readability, strength, and tone.

All the data on locations, times, and solar conditions will be sent to NASA and the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) for analysis of changes in radio propagation during the eclipse.

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