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Monthly Newsletter
MAARS Monthly Meeting
November 13th 7:30 PM
Manhattan Church of Christ
2510 Dickens Ave.
The
President’s
Corner
Brian Carter KC0DWX
I’m not sure I have a lot to say this month other than thank you to all the members who have been there this past year.
We have had our ups and downs and heated discussions, etc. over the past few months.
The end result is we are all brought together in this local group as we all more or less enjoy the same hobby in some form or fashion. So in short thank you all for being out there.
As we all know November brings our annual election of officers. Scott, AC0CY, volunteered to take on the responsibility as nominating committee/person, and as far as I’m aware at this point we currently have the current officers willing to run for office.
I would like to personally thank the officers for the last year of service to the club and hope that the next year finds people that are willing to put the same efforts into the club though I suspect it will be the same officers. That is not an issue as I know we all have the best interests of the club in mind.
That being said, we always welcome new blood so to speak and anyone interested in running for office should speak up now at our meeting and express their interest. Likewise, as the new year in MAARS comes upon us everyone should feel free to volunteer their interest in committees and activity planning groups early on. If you don’t get involved in the decisions being made and the process of getting there then all you are doing is complaining about your failure to participate.
I’d also like to inform everyone that our website has changed. As had been mentioned more than once, geocities was disbanding as ‘yahoo’ was doing away with it. David
Yoder, KA0JPM, our website admin, offered to set something up on his personal system.
Dave had much greater bandwidth and space. We had a couple of brief discussions about a new domain name. The end result was we had no decision so we went with www.ks0man.org. This can be changed or redirected later on but I encourage you all to check out our site at this address and let us know of any issues.
Our October meeting featured Paul Verhage with a presentation on ‘Near space balloons”, and tracking as well as other telemetry and data via amateur radio.
On October 17th two bal-
November 2009 loons were launched with Hams from MAARS chasing them via
APRS. I’m very proud to announce that the MAARS members were the first persons on site as both balloons came down roughly SE of El Dorado
KS. It was a great feeling being there personally and sharing my second balloon chase ever with
Sylvia and Ian as well as hearing
Dave(KD0AZG),
Mark(KC0QAS) and
Laura(KD0GZE). Sylvia guided us very nicely to the first balloons touch down, and Mark and Laura were first on site to the second touch down. It was even better yet that it was almost an hour after all the
MAARS members involved were standing at the site of the second balloon touchdown before we could get other persons on site. The end result was that everyone had a great time and I believe we learned something as well. The only bad news is I believe a module was lost from one of the balloons.
I’ll draw this to an end and I will hope to see you at the meeting on Friday, we will elect officers, plan a Christmas party and look forward to the oncoming year. Brian
KC0DWX
This Months Events
November
13 . . . .MAARS Dinner
Sirloin Stockade 5:30 PM
13 . . . .MAARS Meeting
Election of Officers 7:30 PM
18 . . . .XYLs IHOP 6:00 PM
Weekly Nets
MAARS 147.2550
Club net
Tuesdays
9:00 PM CST
Youth net
Thursdays
8:00 PM CST
November 2009
27 Day Solar
Predictions
Date
Flux A Index Kp
10.7 cm
Index
Nov 11
72
5
2
Nov 12
72
5
2
Nov 13
72
5
2
Nov 14
73
5
2
Nov 15
73
5
2
Nov 16
73
5
2
Nov 17
73
5
2
Nov 18
74
10
4
Nov 19
75
8
4
Nov 20
75
8
4
Nov 21
75
5
3
Nov 22
80
5
2
Nov 23
80
5
2
Nov 24
80
5
2
Nov 25
75
5
3
Nov 26
75
8
4
Nov 27
72
5
2
Nov 28
72
5
2
Nov 29
70
5
2
Nov 30
70
5
2
Dec 01
70
5
2
Dec 02
70
5
2
Dec 03
70
5
2
Dec 04
70
5
2
Dec 05
70
5
2
Dec 06
70
5
2
Dec 07
72
5
2
Solar Flux: This flux number is measured from the amount of radiation on the 10.7cm band
(2800MHz). It is closely related to the amount of ultraviolet radiation, which is needed to create an ionosphere. The lowest possible number for this solar flux is 63.75. Single hop propagation already starts at 70 in lower latitude areas. Worldwide long distance propagation (DX) may turn up already with a solar flux at 120. From experience, an average solar flux of 170 seems to be ideal for 10m-20m bands
QRP DX with good possibilities during these conditions to reach every possible part of the globe
2
Your membership in MAARS is important to help keep the club alive and maintain equipment. If you haven’t already done so please consider joining MAARS at a prorated fee. We also have a student rate available. Dues should be mailed to MAARS, P.O. Box 613, Manhattan, KS 66505.
THE TREASURER’S REPORT
October 1st to November 1st, 2009
Submitted by: Christine Chainey KCØYJN, Treasurer As of October 1, 2009
Cash on Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $110.00 Checking account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $259.19 Savings account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$874.85 TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,244.04 Income:
2010 Dues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .$230.00 Savings Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $ 0.65 Expenditures:
AT&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . $35.66 As of November 1, 2009
Cash on Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . $110.00 Checking account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $223.53 Savings account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .$1,135.50 TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,469.03 with a simple dipole running as low as 5 Watts!
Aand
K-index:
Geomagnetic activity indices, high indices (K:>5 or A:>20) means stormy conditions with an active geomagnetic field. The more active, the more unstable propagation with possible periods of total propagation fadeout. Especially around the higher latitudes and especially at the polar regions, where the geomagnetic field is weak, propagation may disappear completely. Extreme high indices may result in aurora propagation, with strongly degraded long distance propagation at all latitudes.
Sporadic-E is strongest during low indices. Low indices result in relative good propagation, especially noticeable around the higher latitudes, when transpolar paths may open up. Maximum K-index is 9, and the
A-index can exceed well over
100 during very severe storm conditions, with no maximum.
The ARRL often reports the Kindex from the Alaskian station where this index is known as the
College K-index. Other stations reporting K-indices include
Planetary and Boulder. In contrast, the A-indices are usually reported for the Planetary station only. The higher the K-index, the more unstable propagation becomes, the effect is stronger at high latitudes, but weaker near low latitudes.
When storm level is reached, propagation strongly degrades, possibly fade out at high latitudes.