Natural radio emissions in the frequency range of several hundred kilohertz were detected at ground level in the auroral region. The measurements were made during a ground-level observing program conducted near Fiarbanks, Alaska, in the spring of 1986 in an attempt to detect auroral cyclotron-maser generated whistler mode waves. The expectation for detecting such emissions was based on earlier theoretical work and satellite observations concerning auroral radio emissions. Four commercial communication receivers were used to obtain narrowband (3 kHz) samples of the radio noise spectrum at 150, 291, 500, and 700 kHz. Signals attributed to auroral processes were obtained on 7 of 15 nights of operation. Such signals were distinguished from man-made interference by their bursty time structure and wide bandwidth (hundreds of kilohertz) and/or comparable signal intensities on orthogonal antennas. A one-to-one correlation with geophysical phenomena was not always readily evident. Emissions were observed even when magnetic activity was weak-to-moderate, and they were often absent during the strongest magnetic activity. Most of the strongest emissions, however, were observed in a small time interval around midnight magnetic local time (≈¿30 min). Such a tight ordering of the phenomena near magnetic midnight suggests a close tie-in with auroral processes, even though the necessary conditions for the wave generation process are not readily apparent in conventional ground-based geophysical records. The present results support earlier occational reports in the literature, over the last 3 decades, of radio noise from the aurora at frequencies ~100 kHz and indicate the importance of extending the upper frequency of ground-based high-latitude VLF stations to the vicinity of 1 MHz. Such observations may provide the means to continuously monitor cyclotron maser-generated whistler emissions from the ground and, in turn, to determine under what conditions this specific instability process is initiated. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988