Posted: 6/14/2011 9:43:07 AM EDT
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Headline from This Story
A missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles say that our Sun is heading for a rest period even as it is acting up for the first time in years, according to scientists at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
As the current sunspot cycle, Cycle 24, begins to ramp up toward maximum, independent studies of the solar interior, visible surface, and the corona indicate that the next 11-year solar sunspot cycle, Cycle 25, will be greatly reduced or may not happen at all. Great just in time for me trying to Upgrade 
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. The ham bands cover such a wide frequency range that sunspots or not, you can make contacts.
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A week ago the Sun barfed out a massive flare, that through nothing but sheer luck, happened to be pointed in a direction other than Earth:
Big flare The Sun's gonna do what the Sun wants to do, and no amount of "prediction" on our part is going to change the odds. A massive flare in our direction could end all life on Earth, or we could go a thousand years without anything more serious than a sunburn at the beach 'cause you forgot your CopperTone. Or anything in between, at any time. Extinction-level event coming? Probably not, or hopefully not. Something that could disrupt power grids and communications significantly? Definitely possible. |
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Would some of the more experienced / knowledgeable tell us what the implications are for this? Google up "little ice age" and do some reading. Radio wise, some bands will be good, others won't, not much of a big deal. Weather wise? It could get interesting. Semper Fi |
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Figured that the big blazing orb in the sky that bakes Texas in the summer may have something to do with the temperature here on earth. Quoted:
Google up "little ice age" and do some reading.
Would some of the more experienced / knowledgeable tell us what the implications are for this? Radio wise, some bands will be good, others won't, not much of a big deal. Weather wise? It could get interesting. Semper Fi 
Is it wrong to hope that Al Gore's hilltop mansion ends up under a year long foot thick layer of ice & snow? 
Was curious on how all of this would affect skip propagation and if anyone could give some pointers on what bands would be affected by it plus how/what antennas would be best to work around/take advantage of this change. |
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Just a question from total curiosity, why would less flares be bad for communicating? I was always under the impression solar flares caused interference. *In case it isn't totally obvious in my post I have no experience with amateur radio. VHF and UHF, that is frequencies above 30 mhz and 300 mhz respectively, are essentially line-of-sight. That's why TV channel 2 (54 mhz) in one city does not interfere with TV channel 2 in another city, another state. Ditto FM radio (88-108 mhz), aircraft (in the 120 mhz range), ham 2 meter band (144-148 mhz), old police and fire (151-155 mhz), etc. All line of sight. It would be a bad thing if police in once city interfered with police in another state. The line of sight frequencies will cover around a county area, depending on antenna height. So, what about hams, you have heard, talking around the world, to Europe, Australia, South America, etc? That is in the HF range, roughly 3 mhz - 30 mhz. By comparison, the AM broadcast band (known as MW or Medium Wave in other countries) is around 1 mhz (530 khz - 1700 khz). These frequencies reflect off the ionosphere when conditions are right. The higher VHF and UHF frequencies have very short wavelengths and just slip on out into outer space, not reflected. But the lower frequencies, in some conditions are absorbed before they reach the reflective layers (example, AM broadcast band during the day, limiting range), but at night, the absorptive layer dissipates and the AM band will bounce. This is why you hear the "clear channel" stations all over the US. WLS 890 khz in Chicago. WWL 870 khz in New Orleans. KMOX 1120 khz in St. Louis, MO, WOAI 1200 khz San Antonio, TX, WSB 750 in Atlanta, GA, WLW 700 khz Cinncinnati, OH, etc. come in clear at night, but only if they are local to you do you hear them (Edited) during the DAY. I pick up all of those at night on the Onkyo stereo receiver in my bedroom using a homemade AM loop antenna. So, what makes the ionosphere reflective? It is ionized... by sunlight. The greater the solar activity, the better a reflector the ionosphere becomes, and reflects radio signals long distances, bouncing many times if you are lucky. The lower ham bands, 160 meters (1.8 - 2.0 mhz), 80 meters (3.5 - 4.0 mhz), 60 meters (around 5 mhz) are absorbed in the daytime by the lower layers of atmosphere, and reflect on the remaining, cooling off ionosphere at night. Those bands are "dead" or "closed" during the day, and "open" at night. 80 meters at sundown, it's like a switch was flipped, dead one minute, on a few minutes later. 20 meters (14.0 - 14.350 mhz), 17 meters (a narrow slice at around 18 mhz), and 15 meters (21 mhz) are middle of the day bands. 15 meters is not always "open" at this time, but is doing better lately. These higher bands are also very quiet, as far as background noise. Generally, if 20 meters is open, so is 17 meters. 40 meters (7.0 - 7.3 mhz) is in between. It works well from just after daybreak until mid to late morning and then closes for a while, coming back in late afternoon. It usually stays open until an hour or so after sundown. I have also talked to Ireland and England on 40 meters right after midnight local time (to me), which is right at daybreak there. You will often hear some of the same guys working 20 meters during the day, dropping to 40 meters late afternoon, then to 80 meters after dark. So, the more sunspots, the hotter the ionosphere, and better radio propagation. When there are more sunspots CB (Criminal Band) and ham 10 meter band (28-30 mnz) will open. They do on occasion now, in the middle of the day, but sporatically. Not an every day thing, and sometimes only for a few minutes, then boom, gone. I personally have never heard any activity on 6 meters (50-54 mhz) but that band will supposedly "go long" when conditions are right, lots of solar activity. I've been a ham just 2 1/2 years. It's a good thing I didn't know all this when I started or I might have been discouraged and not gotten lots of DX anyway. 
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Quoted: Quoted: Just a question from total curiosity, why would less flares be bad for communicating? I was always under the impression solar flares caused interference. *In case it isn't totally obvious in my post I have no experience with amateur radio. VHF and UHF, that is frequencies above 30 mhz and 300 mhz respectively, are essentially line-of-sight. That's why TV channel 2 (54 mhz) in one city does not interfere with TV channel 2 in another city, another state. Ditto FM radio (88-108 mhz), aircraft (in the 120 mhz range), ham 2 meter band (144-148 mhz), old police and fire (151-155 mhz), etc. All line of sight. It would be a bad thing if police in once city interfered with police in another state. The line of sight frequencies will cover around a county area, depending on antenna height. So, what about hams, you have heard, talking around the world, to Europe, Australia, South America, etc? That is in the HF range, roughly 3 mhz - 30 mhz. By comparison, the AM broadcast band (known as MW or Medium Wave in other countries) is around 1 mhz (530 khz - 1700 khz). These frequencies reflect off the ionosphere when conditions are right. The higher VHF and UHF frequencies have very short wavelengths and just slip on out into outer space, not reflected. But the lower frequencies, in some conditions are absorbed before they reach the reflective layers (example, AM broadcast band during the day, limiting range), but at night, the absorptive layer dissipates and the AM band will bounce. This is why you hear the "clear channel" stations all over the US. WLS 890 khz in Chicago. WWL 870 khz in New Orleans. KMOX 1120 khz in St. Louis, MO, WOAI 1200 khz San Antonio, TX, WSB 750 in Atlanta, GA, WLW 700 khz Cinncinnati, OH, etc. come in clear at night, but only if they are local to you do you hear them at night. I pick up all of those at night on the Onkyo stereo receiver in my bedroom using a homemade AM loop antenna. So, what makes the ionosphere reflective? It is ionized... by sunlight. The greater the solar activity, the better a reflector the ionosphere becomes, and reflects radio signals long distances, bouncing many times if you are lucky. The lower ham bands, 160 meters (1.8 - 2.0 mhz), 80 meters (3.5 - 4.0 mhz), 60 meters (around 5 mhz) are absorbed in the daytime by the lower layers of atmosphere, and reflect on the remaining, cooling off ionosphere at night. Those bands are "dead" or "closed" during the day, and "open" at night. 80 meters at sundown, it's like a switch was flipped, dead one minute, on a few minutes later. 20 meters (14.0 - 14.350 mhz), 17 meters (a narrow slice at around 18 mhz), and 15 meters (21 mhz) are middle of the day bands. 15 meters is not always "open" at this time, but is doing better lately. These higher bands are also very quiet, as far as background noise. Generally, if 20 meters is open, so is 17 meters. 40 meters (7.0 - 7.3 mhz) is in between. It works well from just after daybreak until mid to late morning and then closes for a while, coming back in late afternoon. It usually stays open until an hour or so after sundown. I have also talked to Ireland and England on 40 meters right after midnight local time (to me), which is right at daybreak there. You will often hear some of the same guys working 20 meters during the day, dropping to 40 meters late afternoon, then to 80 meters after dark. So, the more sunspots, the hotter the ionosphere, and better radio propagation. When there are more sunspots CB (Criminal Band) and ham 10 meter band (28-30 mnz) will open. They do on occasion now, in the middle of the day, but sporatically. Not an every day thing, and sometimes only for a few minutes, then boom, gone. I personally have never heard any activity on 6 meters (50-54 mhz) but that band will supposedly "go long" when conditions are right, lots of solar activity. I've been a ham just 2 1/2 years. It's a good thing I didn't know all this when I started or I might have been discouraged and not gotten lots of DX anyway. Thank you! I appreciate your detailed answer. |
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<snip/> Just a question from total curiosity, why would less flares be bad for communicating? I was always under the impression solar flares caused interference. *In case it isn't totally obvious in my post I have no experience with amateur radio. Thank you! I appreciate your detailed answer. +1 thanks for your time in answering the question |
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If its true and all of this comes to pass, the good news is that you should be able to make some incredible contacts on 160. AM broadcast band DXers will also be popping the champagne corks as a prolonged solar minimum will do wonders for BCB DX (assuming its still around at least). I'm not sure how 80 will fair.
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