Radio Auroras 3rd Edition

**** Ships late September 2025 ****

Edited by Steve Telenius-Lowe

Radio amateurs know that radio auroras vary propagation on both VHF and HF so this book is designed to provide an understanding what is going on and how to take advantage of them. This 3rd edition has been updated to include the increase in activity in Sunspot Cycle 25 and new modes that take advantage of this phenomenon in an easy-to-understand and useful way.

Covering nearly 25 years, Radio Auroras - 3rd Edition remains the best book available on such propagation. The original edition written by Charlie Newton in 1991 stands the test of time with the science as relevant today as it always has been. New material has been added by well-known VHF DXer, contester and aurora operator Andy Cook, G4PIQ. Although CW is arguably still the mode of choice for auroral working, Andy covers the use of new digital modes such as Q65, part of the WSJT-X suite of data mode programs, as well as summarising radio auroras that took place between 2013 and 2024. This is supplemented by coverage of the auroras from 2000-2012. Andy also looks at new Internet tools that can be used to predict when auroras might take place, something that G2FKZ could only have dreamt about when he wrote the original Radio Auroras book.

Radio Auroras - 3rd Edition tells the fascinating story of the radio amateurs who discovered this mode of propagation and how they made use of it. Throughout the book there are descriptions of how auroras are caused, how they can be forecast and perhaps most importantly how best to use them to work DX. Radio amateurs know that sunspots affect VHF as well as HF propagation, and the solar cycle has a direct bearing on the prevalence of radio auroras. The extent and usefulness of this mode of propagation is perhaps still not widely known but this book sets out to explain this. Whilst auroras are often thought to be a VHF effect, this book also describes radio auroras at 28MHz as well as outlining the effects of auroras on the other HF bands. Occurrences of Sporadic-E can also accompany auroras to provide Auroral-E propagation and this too is covered.

If you are interested in radio propagation, Radio Auroras - 3rd Edition is a unique guide to this topic, but for those studying and experimenting, or those keen to work DX on VHF, it is a real 'must have' book.

Size 174x240mm 128 Pages, ISBN: 9781 9139 9582 9