Ions and Beacons and Flares: Examining HF Propagation Along the 8 April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Path

The 8 April 2024 North American total solar eclipse will track approximately along the great circle path from central Mexico through Austin, Texas to Toronto, Ontario. That great circle continues to Ottawa, Ontario, home of Canadian National Research Council beacon station CHU.  Our research group has distributed shortwave radios and purpose-built data collection systems to ten school radio clubs along that path and for a rhumb line to New Brunswick.  The volunteers will measure received CHU signal amplitude and time-of-flight, and upload data to our repository. We have also provided instructions on measurement and data upload for volunteers wishing to use their own radios. That group is split into those who will use computerized monitoring and those preferring to listen to their radios and manually record signal enhancements and attenuations.  This talk will present the science questions that drive the data collection plans; the equipment's design and the logistics of its distribution; the real-time data display for all the receivers along the path; and the planned data analysis to support the science plan.

The work is supported in part by a grant from ARDC and by Case School of Engineering deans' funds.