  On the morning of the August 11th 1999, a total eclipse of the sun plunged
Cornwall and parts of Devon into darkness. The event of the eclipse was bound
to attract a great deal of scientific and media attention. Realizing that the
differences in day-time/night-time propagation of VLF/LF/MF to HF bands would
also apply during the darkness of the eclipse, the eclipse offered a rare PR
opportunity to promote radio to the general public. At the same time the
specific nature of the disturbance to the upper atmosphere and the effect on
radio propagation could be examined in detail using scientific instruments at
minimum cost since most instruments would not have to be moved. This would
allow prediction models to be tested in a controlled fashion. Contained within
this report are the details and results of the radio and ionospheric
experiments conducted by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory during the 1999
total solar eclipse. The promoting of the radio experiments with the general
public produced nearly 60 appearances on local and national TV, newspapers and
periodicals. Close to 1700 people responded to the general public medium wave
experiment and 16 million people looked in on the general eclipse web site
(part funded by RA) that included the details of the radio experiments. A large
database of systematic observations across VLF to HF was collected from radio
amateurs and from the RA Regional Offices allowing comparisons to be made with
ITU estimates. There is a brief look at the scientific results and a forward
look as to how the analysis of this disturbance might have impact on the use of
ionospheric models for Space Weather tools in the future.
