Three planes above N Yorkshire this afternoon

They usually come in pairs...

Probably RAF on a training exercise. How high up and what sort of plane? Afterburners on and they can be rather loud.

They weren't near me and we have had flights over most days recently. They seem to be training hard at the moment. Nice clear skies too.

It is a few months since the last sonic boom when they went to intercept.

It kind of makes you wonder if going that fast is fuel efficient. I don't think we can know any more until we know what sort of planes they were. Brian

Not too unusual for the Pennines they tend to do a lot of low flying dodging around the hills. When my wife taught in a school in Littleborough they really came in low and one pilot even managed a wave at her and the kids in the playground. Last year on our way up in the dales we heard a tremendous noise only to see a Hercules come over a ridge in front of us and swoop down low and seemed almost level with the road we were on. Those guys definitely have balls.

Richard

A couple of jet fighters (and a Spitfire!) over Machynlleth today.

Tim

Seems they need to be careful they don't scrape them on the ground :-)

We heard a sonic boom (well, three of them at about 2-second intervals) at about 1900 near Bridlington. It sounded like distant explosions, with a high-pitched crash as well as a deep thump. At first I thought it was a tractor and trailer jolting over a bump in the road, rattling the trailer, but when other people around the village reported (on the village Facebook group) hearing it, and someone said "It was a sonic boom", all became clear.

By pure coincidence (I presume it *was* coincidence) about an hour earlier a recording of ITV from Belmont suddenly experienced humungous picture corruption, and when I checked later (when I was watching the recording) I found that all muxes except PSB3 530 MHz had disappeared. That may have been an aerial amp problem. When I unplugged the aerial input and connected directly to TV lead, to eliminate an amp fault, the TV showed stronger signals - but then when I replugged the cables as they had been, having power-cycled the amp, everything came back, though all muxes are now about 5 dBm weaker and all SNRs are a few dB worse.

I'm sure the reduction in strength/SNR is atmospheric lift, but something pissed-off my amp and it needed to be reset. Was there some weird EMP from the fighter planes? Or am I barking up completely the wrong tree? ;-)

Oh probably. :-)

If they were using live radar then the peak power is tremendous. I could easily expect a latch-up in your amplifier, only corrected with a power cycle.

I've never known a TV amplifier 'latch up'. When the overload stops the thing just starts working as normal.

Bill

More low flying large transport planes seen recently in Shropsire, using the Shropshire hills as part of their low flying training.

An Osprey came over our house the other week, i'd never seen or heard of one, upon looking them up they are a fascinating thing.

Most normal flight traffic can be identified on this site

F15s over Lincolnshire and Yorkshire are not uncommon.

As I write there are a pair of BAE Hawks trundling over Pickering, too.

Getting to be common here around Lakenheath and Mildenhall.

I wonder if they did a ranging radar shot from the BMEWS phased array system at Fylingdales - that things peak radiated power is phenomenal (and also very directional).

Sounds like it may have been an intercept then. I didn't hear any sonic boom yesterday but then I am well inland. Did have a couple go over late last night about 10.30 so they may be on exercise

If you've never had to power cycle anything to get going again, I can see why it's not something you've seen. Latchup can occur anywhere, not just the UHF amplifier.

Thanks, better than Flightradar.

I think you're over thinking everything. There's nothing in a simple UHF amp that has to 'boot'. There's a big lift on at present up the east side of the UK. Belmont is currently stamping all over Crystal Palace for punters south of London

Not with TV amps.

Bet none of his neighbours got latchup.

Or a sonic boom unsettled a dodgy connection at the transmitter. Or somewhere in its feed

IIRC many feeds are via microwave links that require precise antenna alignment - boom and a flexing mount might do bad things