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2008 was a year of very low solar activity. More than 40 percent of this year's propagation bulletins reported zero sunspots for their respective weeks. The average daily sunspot number for the year was 4.7; in 2007, it was 12.8. The yearly averages of daily sunspot numbers for 1999-2008 were 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.6, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8 and 4.7. Sunspot numbers for December 25-31 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.3, 69.2, 69.4, 69.8, 69.8, 68.5 and 69.3 with a mean of 69.3. The estimated planetary A indices were 3, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1 and 10 with a mean of 2.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 and 8 with a mean of 2.3.
This week's Surfin' visits a Web site devoted to the Hellschreiber facsimile Amateur Radio mode.
A return to the vintage ham radio theme of December 1997 -- this time with an embedded sub-theme.
To baseball fans, a triple play is that rare event — one that occurs just a few times a year — when the defensive team manages to get three outs on a single play. Pulling off a triple play usually requires a combination of perfect execution and good luck. In the telecommunications world, “triple play” is a marketing term denoting a company's ability to offer television, high-speed Internet access, and telephone service in a single package — that is, to offer customers three solutions in one.
The next opportunity to encourage a youngster (or a group of 'em), licensed or not, to get on the air to chat with others is Sunday, January 4. Kids Day, sponsored by the Boring (OR) Amateur Radio Club, is the perfect way to introduce a young person to the magic of Amateur Radio.
While watching the lighted ball slowly drop down the pole high above Times Square, counting the last of 2008 away "Ten, nine, eight...!" do you ever ponder the nature of time? Why does that last second matter more than others? Why is a second as long as it is? Here's a quiz you'll want to complete instantly, so start without delay!
A soldier's story of trench combat and spark gap espionage during WWI.
Think the snow and ice have been hard on you? Local Search and Rescue and other volunteers have been working nearly nonstop, appreciative officials said Wednesday.
Whether it's ferrying doctors and patients to St. John Medical Center, searching for lost residents or helping repair a radio tower repeater, volunteer crews have worked hundreds of hours in the past week, said Grover Laseke, Cowlitz County's Emergency Management director.
I will do a longer tirade about white spaces in a few days. For now I want to reprint a letter I got from Stephen Dunifer, a spectrum radical and promoter of free radio. For now, lets think about public interest. Notice that the lower VHF band, the TV channels 2 through 6 are now sort of unloved.
Snow has fallen all week here in Seattle, and the Sun is still void of spots. We last saw sunspots on December 10, 11 and 12. The solar flux -- a measure of 2.8 GHz radio energy from our Sun -- has been running between 68-69 for weeks, except for December 10-12, when it was 70-71, coincident with the appearance of sunspots. Now, NOAA and the US Air Force are predicting solar flux for today, December 26, at 70; for December 27-January 5, the prediction is 71. Perhaps this indicates sunspot activity rotating into view.