HF Comms Yesterday

[Jay Arr]

G'Day,

Anyone else have problems yesterday with HF comms across the Tasman/Pacific? Heading to NOU, we were suddenly unable to get BNE, AKL or NAN on any HF freq. Descent out of NAN airspace into NOU became a tad complicated...... Talking with NOU on VHF, they advised ALL communications to/from the island were down so they couldn't even phone NAN on our behalf. So presumably satellites were out too...... On the ground at NOU there was absolutely no way to get clearances, make phone calls to SYD or NAN, etc. The pub was starting to look good :cool: . Then finally NAN came through on 17904, we got a clearance and got the hell out of there!

Has any pilot or ATC heard a reason? Am suspecting big-time solar activity but have heard nothing definite.

Cheers

[Capn Bloggs]

big-time solar activity
That's what the NOTAM said this morning.

[dirtylittlefokker]

Jayy Arr

Glad to hear it was the same for all.

Uncontrolled descent into Henderson was a little bit off putting.

Is it necessary in this day and age?

I mean, Satphones are a dime (or 10C) a dozen. Yet we rely on tom toms over Oceania!!!

:}

[Jay Arr]

Satphones: well, once on the ground at NOU we wandered over to an Air Calin A330 sitting alongside us to see if we could use their satphone to call someone.... THAT wasn't working either!

Sometimes nature just wins.

[compressor stall]

yep problems today as well...

[Jay Arr]

Ok, this'll explain part of the problem......



Satellite loss cuts Pacific links

BBC News 18 Jan 05

Many remote areas of the Pacific have been cut off from the outside world after the loss of a telecommunications satellite.

The $73m Intelsat IS-804 satellite went out of alignment on Saturday, according to New Zealand telecom authorities.

Its loss has prevented contact with 10 Pacific island nations and territories, as well as affecting many other countries in the region.

Three days on, some areas are still without international links.

Intelsat called the loss of its satellite "an extremely rare event", adding that "our first priority must be restoration of service to our customers".

Since the incident, communications with the Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and Western Samoa have been restored through alternative satellites.

Scott Base in Antarctica has made use of emergency-only backup services.

But American Samoa, Kiribati, Niue, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are still without outside telecommunication links.

These islands still have local phone and data services, but people living there are currently unable to make international calls or access foreign internet sites.

"Bank services, [electronic cash] services ... and airline data circuits have also been impacted, and this could lead to some flight delays to and from these locations," said Sarah Berry, a spokeswoman for Telecom New Zealand, which rented capacity on the lost satellite.

Other countries affected by the loss include South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vietnam, but they were able to switch immediately to a backup system.

[farqueue]

One of the Inmarsat birds is borked, it is a Pacific slot one so that would screw up anyone using it for circuits.

Plus for good measure, there where two X class solar flares yesterday, plus another is due today as well... HF will be interesting in the GM storm etc that will almost certainly happen.

[compressor stall]

Rather unusual the amount of solar activity in the last year given that we are heading towards a solar acitivity minimum - the last maximum was 2001-2.

Yep, the sat outage has sure caused a few headaches around the place. Luckily this post is being relayed by the indian ocean one!

[farqueue]

For anyone using HF, there has been another solar flare and CME. Not earth directed though, but there are reports of aeroras visable from ADL, so a geo-magnetic storm seems to be on at the moment.

Can't see a bloody thing here because of the smoke :(

[Pass-A-Frozo]

If you are interested, have a look at:

Ionospheric Prediction Service (http://www.ips.gov.au)

There is an HF warning current, recommending Lower Freq Bands:

DEGRADED HF PROPAGATION CONDITIONS EXPECTED
FROM 20 JANUARY 2005

IF COMMS DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED TRY A LOWER FREQUENCY BAND


They also have a couple of pages where you can enter: Departure, Destination and the HF Freqs, and it will tell you where you can get comms and where you can't , and on what Freq (or black holes where you won't) given the current solar activity.

PAF

[DirectAnywhere]

Does anyone have a reference for the AIP or Jepps for the procedures to be used during an HF outage ie. transmitting position on 121.5 or guard or wtf else we're calling it or not allowed to call it today?

Is it standard TIBA broadcasts or is there something else?

Thanks!!

[Chapi]

Does anyone have a reference for the AIP or Jepps for the procedures to be used during an HF outage

Basically ... failure to maintain comms is the same as a comms failure ... so follow the procedures as per ERSA EMERG.

Continuing a flight when HF comms cannot be established before leaving VHF coverage, and proceeding knowing you may not be able to maintain normal comms and report an emergency is a pilot decision.

ATC will declare a SAR phase based on missed position reports, and assume you stay at last cleared level until comms re-established.

[compressor stall]

Interesting situation today - apparently quite common in this part of the world - a textbook 'hop'.

Perfect HF comms on 6 megs for position reports every 30 mins, and a bit of yak in between, then silence.

Call on the iridium to give report, and nothing heard on HF at all. HF radio check whilst in iridium comms, but still nothing. Then on the way back 'home', comms reestablished almost exactly at the same position.

A good read here (http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/propagation/HF/ionoprop.php)