What's up with the High KP readings?

[Ron_Dog]

I live in Illinois,and have noticed that the KP readings have been higher than ever before here in the Mid West! I never fly my MP when the KP reading is over 3. I've also heard that it really messes with your GPS while it spikes high readings. For some reason the readings have been high,and higher than normal in the last 10 days here? I had readings today of 8-9?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Solar flares recently. One extremely large. I have yet to see anyone have issues due to K index.

 

[Ron_Dog]

I've been told it effects the GPS systems? To what degree,I don't know though? I copied this from the UAV Forcast site:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the Kp index, and why does it matter?
The Kp index measures geomagnetic disruption caused by solar activity, on a scale from 0 (calm) to 9 (major storm). Anything at or below 3 or 4 is usually safe for flying. The higher the Kp index, the more likely you are to have diffulties getting an accurate GPS lock.

Solar activity interferes with GPS signals in two ways, both due to disruptions in the ionosphere:

• It decreases the signal-to-noise ratio and affects carrier frequency, causing the receiver to lose lock on some satellites. Instead of 9 satellites, you might lock only 6, or the number might fluctuate from second to second.
• It changes the propagation delay through the ionosphere, making GPS positioning inaccurate even if the receiver has all satellites locked.

Even during a major storm, the extent to which you see these problems will depend on many other factors. One major factor is your latitude: ionospheric disturbances are worse at high and equatorial latitudes, and less noticeable at mid latitudes. Another factor is the time of day: most disturbances occur in the evening between the hours of 8pm and midnight. The effects also vary; sometimes everything will be fine, while at other times you'll lose lock completely for a few seconds or even a minute, or appear to have a lock but the position will actually be wrong by hundreds of feet.

The storms can also interfere with radio control signals, or with electronics of your aircraft.

In general it's better to play it safe during solar storms, even though most of the time you won't notice any issues. Happy flying!

 

[dirkclod]

Ron I've been flying for 4 years and have flown when it was high just to see .
It flew fine . If you go by that you are going to miss flying time .
Fly when you're comfortable but like TJ I have never seen anyone have any issues other than talking about it .
I read this the other day and went out with mine and flew 3 batteries .
No issues at all.
How the Strongest Solar Flare in a Decade Is Affecting Earth
Now that is why you might be seeing higher readings .
Like I said fly when you feel comfortable but I just pay that KP Index
no mind . Not in MS.

 

[Ron_Dog]

Ron I've been flying for 4 years and have flown when it was high just to see .
It flew fine . If you go by that you are going to miss flying time .
Fly when you're comfortable but like TJ I have never seen anyone have any issues other than talking about it .
I read this the other day and went out with mine and flew 3 batteries .
No issues at all.
How the Strongest Solar Flare in a Decade Is Affecting Earth
Now that is why you might be seeing higher readings .
Like I said fly when you feel comfortable but I just pay that KP Index
no mind . Not in MS.

Thanks,Guy's! I was wanting to fly today and also get some pictures of the sunsets we have had over the past 3 days. The weather was perfect,low to no wind,and around 75 degreese! When I seen the KP index today,I thought "no way",but I will give it a go tomorrow reguardless what the KP index is!

 

[dirkclod]

You know it's all about what your comfortable with.
Just stay low and watch it till you see. This was one of my flights this morning. Only issue I had was a slight headwind
but look at my flight line then my rth line. No issues there.
Straight as can be.
Some of this stuff you can just worry to much
about. And look at my Sat. count.

 

[lsv_palana]

Installing 350w 220volt invertor

 

[4wd]

It's probably best not to fly when its over 5.
Or at least keep it fairly close in case of erratic behaviour.

It was more important with earlier phantoms which used only GPS not GPS and GLONASS like P3 onwards.
With GPS only, you often struggled to get 6 satellites and it would go in and out of ATTI mode.
Any disruption from high solar activity could easily knock out one or two weaker sats.
That's all it's about unless something really extreme happened which could over-ride the control signal.

 

[Jacknet007]

Look up the Carrington event on what a direct CME hit can do to the Earth .

 

[Bendsum]

When the kp is high around 8 or above you may be able to see the northern lights. I have seen them all way down in central MO once. Was a faint green glow on the horizon.

 

[Qoncussion]

Back in my Phantom 2 days, I was super cautious about the Kp index - until I was hired to fly on a day when the index was at 7. I flew anyway, with perfect results. So I figured out how to deal with the index. I removed the app from my phone, and have never checked it since.

 

[dirkclod]

Well I have seen this debated in PhantomPilots and here now around 4 years and everyone has their opinion on it . I had that app way back when I flew Visions and like I said I would fly when it said not to just to see . Like Qon the app has been long gone from my phone .
You just have to do what makes you feel safe because if you go up thinking you might have an issue you just might bring one on yourself for whatever reason . Maybe your location might have something to do with it . Now I'm going to Run after this in this but when It get's high enough for my skin to fall off when I walk outside I won't fly

 

[cderoche]

Look up the Carrington event on what a direct CME hit can do to the Earth .

Solar storm of 1859 - Wikipedia
Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks.[15] Telegraph pylons threw sparks.[16] Some telegraph operators could continue to send and receive messages despite having disconnected their power supplies.[17]

Holy Magnetic Storms Batman!

 

[cderoche]

Now I'm going to Run after this in this but when It get's high enough for my skin to fall off when I walk outside I won't fly
View attachment 21471

I'm still flying, I'll just watch it through the window...

 

[dirkclod]

I'm still flying, I'll just watch it through the window...

I'll rephrase that to when sparks fly out my butt

 

[cderoche]

I'll rephrase that to when sparks fly out my butt

Phew!
As long as its just sparks and not Phantoms.....

 

[dirkclod]

Phew!
As long as its just sparks and not Phantoms.....

Asked for that one huh

 

[cderoche]

Asked for that one huh

Sorry, couldn't resist