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   Home  HF Systems  Ionogram Viewer Sunday, Jul 20 2008 21:07 UT
Australasia 

IPSNET Ionogram Viewer

Ionograms are an image of frequency versus time delay (virtual height) of HF echoes from the ionosphere recorded by an ionosonde. An ionosonde is a swept frequency HF pulsed radar used to monitor the ionosphere. Vertical sounding ionosondes normally sweep in frequency from about 1 to 20MHz.

Instructions on how to use the ionogram viewer are below the applet. If you have a display problem see bottom of page
ATTENTION: For access to ionograms prior to 2006 please go to the WDC section where a stand alone version of this applet and zipped dayfiles are available for ftp download.
Click here to get the viewer and README


If your browser recognized the applet tag, you would see an applet here.

How to Use IPSNET Ionogram Viewer

Note:Learmonth and Davis are lower resolution ionograms. Prev/Next and PrevHr/NextHr move inside ionogram list when started. To update ionogram list either reload the station or change the date or hr/min list selections.

  • Amp Threshold
    Use the scrollbar to set the minimum echo amplitude threshold to be displayed. As you move the scrollbar the ionogram to be re-drawn with the new amplitude threshold.
  • Station List (default "Brisbane ")
    Use this drop down list to to select the IPSNET station. Stations currently available are:
    • Brisbane
    • Casey
    • Canberra
    • Christchurch
    • Darwin
    • Hobart
    • Learmonth
    • Macquarie Island
    • Mundaring
    • Norfolk Island
    • Port Moresby
    • Scott Base
    • Sydney
    • Townsville
    • Vanimo
  • Equiv. oblique
    This shows a synthetic equivalent oblique ionogram dervied from the vertical ionogram, ie it is not a direct observation. The ionogram is displayed in a new window, which contains a drop down list of distances for the derivation of the equivalent ionogram. Note: IPS operates an oblique receiver from Auckland to Sydney. You can see the current oblique ionogram for this circuit here. You can compare the synthetic oblique ionogram for Christchurch (the nearest ionosonde to Auckland) or Sydney (set the distance for 2000km), from the above ionogram display tool, with this observed oblique ionogram.
  • Prev/Next
    Use these buttons to go from the next available ionogram.At the end of the available data "Next" will take you to the start of the ionogram list for the currently selected station, ie about 30 days ago. At the beginning of the ionogram list "Prev" will take you to the end of the list, ie the latest ionogram from the selected station.
  • PrevHr/NextHr
    Use these buttons to view an ionogram +/- an hour from the currently displayed ionogram hour and minute. These buttonswill produce a blank display if no such ionogram is available.
  • Date/Time
    Date and Time can be set by the use of the appropriate drop down lists. A blank display indicates that no ionogram is available for the selected stations/date/time.

Problem: IE 6 There is a grey area where the ionogram image would normally be!
The quickest way to sort this out is to download and install the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from http://www.java.com

You can check your Java Virtual Machine at:

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.jsp

 1. If you see an animated dancing "Duke" in motion under
 the heading "Test your JVM" then the IPS applet should work.

 2. If no animation is visible then follow the "download and install
 instructions". On the next page click on "Download instructions"
 then select the JRE for your operating system most commonly, 
 "Windows automatic download and Installation Instructions for the 
 Java 2 Runtime Enviroment, standard edition (JRE)". 
 Follow the instructions from here on.
 



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