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Monthly Newsletter
MAARS Monthly Meeting
August 6 th 7:30 PM
Manhattan Church of Christ
2510 Dickens Ave.
The
President’s
Corner
Brian Carter KC0DWX
I’d like to start off by apologizing for having to cancel last months meeting. It seemed like the thing to do as 3 our of the 4 officers would be unable to attend and thus the group didn’t have access to the meeting location.
Next I’ll bring to your attention that this month we are moving the meeting up a week. Our meeting is Friday the 6th of
August, we will hope we are lucky enough that it isn’t one of the hotter evenings we’ve seen lately.
Francis(W0EVJ) will be presenting a program on transitors for the group and I think most people will learn something if not a lot, Francis does a great job of explaining thing in his programs. I suggest if you don’t normally you keep an eye on the 27 day outlook, the sun seems to becoming more active which can mean some good things for those into radio propagation.
However I’ve read some stories that suggest we are due for a huge solar maximum comparable to one that actually caused fires in equipment during the days of telegraph. That thought seems a bit scary with today’s solid state electronics a communications methods. In today’s world we have a lot of antennas connected to our homes that run for a great many miles.
I hope we will see many of you at the meeting on Friday
August 2010 and feel free to join us for dinner at the Sirloin Stockade at around 5:30 PM. If you aren’t sure where to go jump on the repeater and ask for help.
73’s
KC0DWX
Active
Sun Could Cause Havoc
ARRL August 02, 2010
It was quite a busy weekend for our Sun. During the late hours of Friday, July 30, a magnificent coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed away from the eastern limb of the Sun; the source of the blast was apparently sunspot 1092. On Sunday, August 1 at approximately 0855
UTC, Earth-orbiting satellites detected a C3-class solar flare, and again, the blast came from sunspot 1092. At about the same time as the solar flare, an enormous magnetic filament erupted, stretching across the
Sun’s northern hemisphere, a complex global eruption involving almost the entire Earth-facing side of the Sun. According to NASA, if a
CME like this hit Earth, polar sky watchers would likely see bright auroras. In this case, however, the cloud is not aimed in our direction. At most, it would delivThis Months Events August er a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field around August 2, producing only minor geomagnetic activity. Future CMEs could be more geo-effective as the sunspot turns to face Earth in the days ahead. Auroras are glowing, dancing curtains of light that appear in the upper atmosphere of a planet and are caused by the interaction between the planet’s magnetic field and charged particles from
Earth’s magnetosphere.
High speed coronal mass ejections produce major disturbances in the solar wind. Often loop-like in appearance, CMEs rise as massive clouds of material from the solar atmosphere. Dangerous, high energy, charged particles are often produced in these disturbances and, when they are directed toward Earth, often produce large magnetic storms in the magnetosphere.
A solar flare is an explosion
Continued on page 2
Weekly Nets
6 . . . . .MAARS Dinner
Sirloin Stockade 5:30 PM
6 . . . . .MAARS Meeting 7:30
PM
13 . . . .The Palace 6:00 PM
MAARS 147.2550
Club net
Tuesdays
9:00 PM CST
Youth net
Thursdays
8:00 PM CST
August 2010
27 Day Solar
Predictions
Date
Flux A Index Kp
10.7 cm
Index
Aug 04
82
22
5
Aug 05
84
25
5
Aug 06
84
12
3
Aug 07
84
7
2
Aug 08
84
5
2
Aug 09
80
5
2
Aug 10
78
8
3
Aug 11
78
8
3
Aug 12
78
8
3
Aug 13
80
5
2
Aug 14
82
5
2
Aug 15
86
5
2
Aug 16
86
5
2
Aug 17
86
5
2
Aug 18
86
5
2
Aug 19
86
5
2
Aug 20
84
5
2
Aug 21
84
5
2
Aug 22
84
8
3
Aug 23
83
15
4
Aug 24
83
10
3
Aug 25
85
8
3
Aug 26
85
5
2
Aug 27
82
5
2
Aug 28
80
5
2
Aug 29
80
5
2
Aug 30
80
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 with a simple dipole running as low as 5 Watts!
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
July 1st 2010 to August 1st 2010
Submitted by: Christine Chainey KCØYJN, Treasurer As of July 1, 2010
Cash on Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $110.00 Checking account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . $153.35 Savings account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1,087.02 TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .$1,350.37
Expenditures:
AT&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $35.68 Marsh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $85.00
As of August 1, 2010
Cash on Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $110.00 Checking account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . $ 32.67 Savings account. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .$1,087.02 TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .$1,229.69 Continued from page 1 on the Sun that happens when energy stored in twisted magnetic fields (usually above sunspots) is suddenly released.
Flares produce a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays.
Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 18 Angstroms. There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect
Earth’s polar regions and minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Each category for x-ray flares has nine subdivisions (C1-C9, M1-M9 and X1-X9). Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.
According to
Spaceweather.com, the timing of these events suggests they are connected, and a review of movies from NASA’s Solar
Dynamics Observatory (SDO) strengthens that conclusion.
Despite the ~400,000 km distance between them, the sunspot and filament seem to erupt together; they are probably connected by long-range magnetic fields. In this movie
(171 Å) from SDO, a shadowy shock wave (a “solar tsunami”) can be seen emerging from the flare site and rippling across the northern hemisphere into the filament’s eruption zone. That may have helped propel the filament into space.